Bad Aim
by bobbuggle
Summary: A moment of distraction, and Orochimaru bites the wrong member of Team 7. Kyuubi tells a tale of pain and misery, and an alliance is born between brothers. Without the cursed seal, Sasuke watches over his teammates, and everything changes.
1. Chapter 1

Orochimaru raised his hand to Naruto's stomach, glowing symbols on each of his fingers, one for each of the five elements. But before he could make contact with the demon container, a kunai flew from an unexpected direction, nearly striking him. He dodged it at the last second, and noticed out of the corner of his eye that the corrosive demonic chakra was starting to burn his tongue. Orochimaru growled under his breath, and threw the kid hard into a tree, with more than enough force to knock him unconscious. Orochimaru lashed out with his tongue to knock out the pink haired girl, who had been the one that stopped him from sealing the Kyuubi container. She had literally been such a nonthreat that he had forgotten he was there, a mistake he was most certainly going to rectify. With a single blow from his tongue, she fell onto the branch she had been standing on, totally unconscious, and Orochimaru turned to the last standing member of Team 7.

He cursed under his breath, sensing the approach of a different cursed seal. If Anko arrived and saw that he had marked Sasuke with the cursed seal, there was no telling what she would do. She hated him with such a passion that if she saw the seal on the Uchiha, she was just as likely to simply kill him as she was to treat him, and Orochimaru wasn't going to risk losing his future host to something as mundane as assassination.

Orochimaru extended his neck and shot towards his target.

Instantly, he knew something was off. There was a chakra moving around, one that he was sure he had knocked out just moments ago. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do at this point, with the enzyme already welling up in his artificial fangs, to stop now could be disastrous for everyone involved.

So, not quite praying that nothing went wrong, (not exactly being a religious man) Orochimaru bit down.

Instantly, he knew his half serious prayer had gone unanswered. He had gotten the scent of Sasuke earlier, and it was nothing like this. This smelled more like sweat and foxes.

Shit.

Foxes.

Orochimaru withdrew his neck, cursing mentally as he did. And indeed, there he was, the container of the Nine Tailed Fox. He stood with arms spread and his back facing Orochimaru, clearly trying to protect the paralyzed Uchiha. On his neck were two fang marks, Orochimaru's signature, around which was developing the distinctive shape of the cursed seal of heaven.

Orochimaru was furious. He had been thwarted, not something that happened often. Not only that, but he had wasted a precious heaven seal, and he had no earth seal enzymes with him, meaning that he wouldn't be able to give Sasuke the power or enforced loyalty of his two most powerful seals. And on top of all that, there was no guarantee that the seal would work against a demonic container anyway, he had never tried something like that before, never having felt the need.

All in all, a very bad investment.

Still, if the seal killed or crippled the Kyuubi boy, Konoha would be weakened, and if all it did was work the way it was supposed to, he would gain a potentially powerful loyal servant, although he couldn't posses the boy for fear of the Kyuubi, he could still use him as a tool, a weapon.

Not entirely satisfied, Orochimaru nevertheless slithered away with a smirk on his face. It might not have gone exactly as he had planned, but hell.

There was always next year.

Sasuke stared up at the grinning face of Naruto, still shocked, unable to move. The strange man had slid off into the forest a few moments ago, but that hardly registered. What was rushing through his head at the moment was the simple fact that Naruto, the dead last, the absolute loser, had just saved his life.

Twice.

WHAT THE HELL!

Still, when Naruto collapsed, Sasuke instinctively moved to catch him. He craned his neck, struggling under the weight of Naruto, and saw that Sakura was unconscious as well. Sighing, he surged chakra through his body and lifted Naruto onto his back completely, cursing inwardly as he felt the immense fever his blonde teammate was running. Sasuke managed to hop through the trees to where Sakura was lying, and scooped her up, wishing he could make solid clones like Naruto could. Nevertheless, he managed, lifting his other teammate and placing her on his shoulder. Sasuke looked around for a moment, and spotted a clearing in the distance. He grinned lightly, and jumped off towards it.

Soon, he had arrived, panting lightly under the weight of his two teammates. He walked over to a hollow in a nearby tree and gently set down his two teammates, noticing that, although Sakura was starting to stir, Naruto was still totally out of it, and was actually, if anything, running an even higher fever than before.

Sighing, Sasuke pulled out his canteen, and poured some water on a rag. He placed the rag on Naruto's head, and started to wipe away some of the sweat that had accumulated there.

Even as Sakura started to wake up, Sasuke sighed.

This was going to suck.

Anko shot out of the trees, and skidded to a halt. There he was. The monster, the demon, the creature that had tossed her aside like yesterday's trash, the beast that had ruined her life, and betrayed her trust.

There he was. Her teacher, her confidant, her father figure, the first person she had ever truly loved.

Even as she stared at him, Anko saw both Orochimarus, the cruel uncaring monster, and the kind loving sensei. It was impossible to reconcile the two images, so, in the first meeting with her old teacher in nearly ten years, Anko just attacked both of them, just like last time.

Both of them were good enough to kill.

The opening blows were exchanged, and Anko found herself being driven back. She felt the cursed seal trying to rise up, her own seal of heaven trying to gain control, to take the forefront, but as she had a hundred times before, she forced it down.

Instantly she collapsed down onto the tree branch she was standing on, pain surging through her neck as it had every time before. Memories flashed before her eyes, but she ignored them in favor of what was before her.

"Orochimaru. What are you doing here?"

Orochimaru smirked, and Anko knew he knew what she was doing. She was buying herself enough time to suppress the seal, he couldn't help but know it, he was basically controlling the damn thing. Still, she knew that he would indulge her. As it was, he would be underestimating her, thinking her too weak. That knowledge burned, and a plan started to form, born half of madness and half of desperation.

Still, she had to recover first.

"I'm disappointed in you Anko, to use such an obvious ploy. I had thought my little viper would be a little smarter."

She cursed mentally, but kept up the tough girl façade, still gripping her neck where the damnable seal was, trying to ignore the crippling pain.

"Why are you here? What are you after?"

She was rather surprised to see him frown. "The Sharingan dear viper. Unfortunately, I have been delayed, but that means nothing. In due time, it shall become mine, just like everything else, you included."

Anko's eyes widened, and Orochimaru cackled.

"Kukukukuku. Yes, my dear viper, you have guessed correctly. I have discovered the secret of immortality."

Then, before Anko could even put her double suicide plan into action, Orochimaru was gone, and before the darkness closed in, Anko cursed herself, as Orochimaru escaped once more.

Naruto opened his eyes, and stared at where the sky should have been.

Unfortunately, it wasn't there.

He sat up, and looked around. It was, to be honest, the last place he had expected to find himself. Namely, a sewer. A very badly maintained sewer. The walls were crumbling, broken, with an odd, evil feeling black liquid leaking out of them. Multi colored pipes ran along the ceiling, each glowing with several different colored liquids flowing through them. And more than just that, the whole place was filled with the sounds of heavy breathing, like some monstrous creature in the distance was panting furiously.

Naruto rose to his feet and started to walk, guided by his instincts and the sound of the breathing. Eventually, after seconds that felt like days, or days that felt like seconds, Naruto had arrived at the source. It was a giant steel cage, with massive black bars rising into the ceiling, completely out of sight. Behind the cage was a massive face, all that was visible of the panting creature.

The creature spoke, its face contorted into a grimace, of pain or annoyance Naruto couldn't tell. **"Brat. What have you done?"**

Naruto stared up at it, and felt his long clouded senses start to clear.

"Are you the Kyuubi?"

**"Yes. What have you done brat? What is this black chakra, and why have you let it into your body?"**

"Hey, I didn't do it! It was that stupid snake guy, he bit me!"

The creature roared, and Naruto took an instinctive step backwards, fear flashing through his heart for just an instant before it was gone once more.

**"You fool! You let a foe bite you! This chakra is no normal chakra, it is an enzyme, and even now, it is trying to take over your body!"**

"Enwhat? Wait, the enthing is trying to take over my body?"

Before Naruto could really start panicking the demon roared again, freezing him in place.

**"SILENCE! If you think that I would let a mere human take over the body of my host, you are sorely mistaken. This enzyme shall not succeed, no matter what, although there will undoubtedly be side effects."**

"W-what do you mean? What are you going to do!"

**"I am already doing it. The enzyme is struggling to take you over, but I already exert a great influence over your body. It isn't enough to do what I actually want to do, but it is more than enough to destroy the diseased chakra, and free you from its influence. Of course, with this much disease in your body, the seal has weakened, a true boon."**

"Oh no! The Kyuubi is escaping! AUUGHHH!"

Another roar, another flash of fear, and Naruto was silenced.

**"You are a fool. If I was escaping, you would know. No, that isn't the part of the seal being weakened by this foul invader. It is targeting the pain giving portions of the seal, as well as the parts that were slowly destroying my body. In other words, where before I was dying, now I live, and I live a life without pain. This is the most beneficial side effect, as far as I'm concerned."**

Naruto frowned, and plopped down into the murky sewer water, noting in the back of his mind that it wasn't making him wet. "Why was the seal causing you pain? And why was it destroying you?"

The Kyuubi growled, a deep sound, far more menacing than the roar, and once again, Naruto felt the fear, far stronger than any of the previous, but somehow, less than it should have been.

**"The Fourth Hokage, when he sealed me in you, decided that it would be better if he made his own seal, rather than using the tried and true Uzumaki version of the seal. He doubled up on the Four Point Seal, creating his own version, the Eight Point Seal. He intended that it destroy me bit by bit and feed my chakra to you, however, he failed. Despite his genius, he was both only human and not an Uzumaki. This led to the seal merely gradually destroying me and not feeding me to you at all. Not only that, but the destruction was moving at an incredibly slow rate, to the point that my death would only have come in a thousand years, if not more."**

"Well that seems pointless."

**"Indeed. However, when you died, so would I, unless I broke free first. Furthermore, the immense pain I was being put through made me most eager to escape."**

"Wait, why was the seal hurting you again?"

**"If the seal had worked as it was supposed to, I would have been desperate to escape before being completely absorbed around the time you turned eighteen. The pain was added to the seal to keep me from resisting at all, but my pain tolerance was underestimated, or the seal screwed up, and I was given just enough pain to enrage me, but not enough to incapacitate me, meaning that I was slowly dying, pissed off, and trapped in you."**

"Ouch."

**"Yes. I've been trying to escape since the instant I was sealed away and broke out of that stupid genjutsu."**

"Genjutsu?"

**"If I were to tell you all you didn't know, we would be here forever."**

"Oh, ok. So what happens now that all of that is gone?"

**"My mind is clearer than it has been in twelve and a half years, a most wonderful experience. Without the pain and the terrible feeling of being slowly consumed, I feel whole. Soon, my body will be fully regenerated, and then, I shall act."**

"What do you mean?"

**"I will wipe out the enzyme, and reverse the effects as much as possible. Then, we shall speak more. In the meantime, rest, allow me to recuperate and then work."**

"Wait, do you know what's going on outside?"

**"I know no more than you do, and neither of us will find out until you wake up. And you won't wake up until that enzyme is defeated, and I permit you to leave this place. Don't worry, your teammates will protect you. In the meantime, rest. Let me work."**

Naruto nodded, and felt a terrible sleepiness coming over him. He yawned, and was soon sleeping like a baby in the mysteriously dry murky water.

Water which was slowly starting to clear.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Most genin in this situation would feel frightened, or worried, or at the very least a little nervous, but Sasuke didn't. No, what he felt was, simply put, happy. He had been on a losing streak lately, first against Haku, who had ended up losing to Naruto and getting killed by Kakashi. Next up was Lee, who had kicked his ass around the block despite the Sharingan, and who had done it with just taijutsu, as if to add insult to injury. Finally, the snake man woman thing, who hadn't even been trying the whole time, and had actually been more threatened by Naruto than by Sasuke, the very same Naruto that had saved Sasuke's life twice in the course of the battle! Yes, Sasuke was most glad for this situation, because if a village had sent three genin after you just to kill you, that meant you were somebody, you were a threat, and that helped reassure his waning self confidence.

Still, as the three sound genin charged, Sasuke was rather glad to have Sakura at his side. Three on one could be a challenge, even for him.

The three genin blundered right into the trap that Sasuke and Sakura had set up before hand. They noticed the first layer, and jumped over the discolored patch of grass that was obviously being used to hide a spike pit. Then, in mid air, they found a massive pair of logs swinging towards them, one from the right, one from the left. Unfortunately, the plain looking boy brought his hands up and blasted powerful gusts of cutting wind out of tubes implanted in each of his arms. They landed, and suddenly found themselves in danger of being blown up by the explosive tags that Sasuke had set up. They managed to jump again, only to find another log shooting towards them, this time augmented by a boulder dropping down from above.

Once again, gusts of wind shot from the boy with the tubes in his arms. This time, although the log was blown to bits, the boulder kept on coming, barely even dented by the air waves sent at it. Nevertheless, the three managed to push off of each other in an incredible display of midair agility and dodge it, each of them receiving only glancing blows, with only the mummy like leader escaping damage altogether.

When the three of them landed, separated by the entire length of the clearing, Sasuke moved.

He raced first towards the girl, who was closest, absently noting that Sakura was covering him by rapidly throwing kunai at the second closest, the uninjured mummy boy, while the third, the air tubes boy, was slowly rising to his feet rubbing his head.

When he was within striking range, Sasuke activated his Sharingan, and time seemed to slow. His target was struggling to gain some distance, clearly not a close range fighter, while holding her shoulder, which had been hit and likely broken by the boulder trap. But with the incredible abilities that the Sharingan granted him and some of the speed he had copied from Rock Lee, it was relatively easy to strike where she was going to be. Within an instant, she was on the ground unconscious, and Sasuke was racing towards the frustrated mummy genin, who was being slowly maneuvered into position by Sakura's accurate throws. He had yet to be hit, but he clearly had no long range attacks to retaliate with, making him easy to pin down and hold down until Sasuke arrived and took him out.

That was when the whole plan went to hell.

The air tube boy pointed his hands at Sakura and, before Sasuke could shout a warning, shouted, "ZANKUHA!"

Sakura was stronger than when she had been an academy student, but it was clear that she never even stood a chance. The powerful air waves struck her, sending her flying into the tree where Naruto was sheltered, smashing against it with incredible force. Even as Sasuke skidded to a halt, struggling to adjust his direction so that he could help Sakura, he heard a strange ringing, and noticed that the bandaged sound genin that had been his original target had swung his arm, which had an odd metallic device attached to it. For a moment, Sasuke wondered why the boy had swung his arm at all when Sasuke was still a few feet away.

Then, he was on the ground, vomiting barely even able to understand the explanation the sound genin was giving.

"Do you like it? This is my Melody Arm. A single swing from this baby, and sound waves amplified by it will be guided by my chakra into your ears. I just shattered your inner ear, destroying any sense of balance you might have had. You can't move, you're probably even having trouble breathing. We've already won."

'Get up.'

"Zaku, finish him, then the girl. I'll go look for their other teammate, he has to be around here somewhere."

'Get up.'

"No problem. Hear that Uchiha? It's over. You're dead."

'Get up! You can't let yourself lose now, not like this!'

"Oh, there he is, in the tree. Alright, let's finish this."

'GET UP!'

"ZANKUKYOKUHA!"

The massive burst of air, five times more powerful than the previous, shot towards Sasuke. But he moved, faster than he had ever moved before, his Sharingan letting him find the closest edge of the airwave, his speed letting him reach that edge before the air waves could even reach him.

He tumbled, but got to his feet, shooting towards Dosu, who was poised to kill Sakura, kunai in hand, and then move on to Naruto. Sakura had only just woken up from Zaku's initial blast, and was now staring at the kunai held by Dosu, unable to move.

But Sasuke was already there, driving Dosu back with a quick combo, slapping an exploding tag onto the bandaged boy's Melody Arm as he did. The gauntlet exploded, sending Dosu flying, even as Sasuke raced towards a still stunned Zaku. He dodged a single Zankuha, and then arrived. With a series of rapid fire blows, he knocked Zaku out, and then landed lightly on his feet, a slight grin on his face as he looked over the carnage the battle had caused. Dosu was unconscious, his arm still smoking lightly, metal remnants of the gauntlet he had worn embedded in it. Zaku was unconscious and covered in bruises, and the girl…

The girl was getting up.

Even as Sasuke was preparing a rush, she held up her hands and waved them around rapidly in surrender. He hesitated, but remained on guard.

"Don't attack! If you beat all of us, I can't take you alone. Just let me pick up my teammates and leave."

Sasuke nodded, but kept an eye on her as she moved. She soon had easily hoisted both her teammates onto her shoulder, showing impressive physical strength, and was just starting to walk away when Sakura called out, "Wait!"

The girl turned, hesitance clear in her eyes, when Sakura said, "Give us your scroll, or we won't let you go!"

The girl almost snorted, since Sakura had done basically nothing other than distract Dosu, but reached into the bandaged boy's pouch and grabbed a scroll anyway. She tossed it to Sasuke, and then turned and walked away, disappearing into the trees.

**"WAKE UP!"**

Naruto shot to his feet, randomly throwing weapons in every direction, stunned by the sudden roar.

**"STOP THROWING SHARP OBJECTS AT ME!"**

Naruto stopped.

**"Finally, I've spent the last five minutes trying to wake you."**

"Well, I'm up now. What do you want you stupid fox?"

**"Show some gratitude brat! I just saved your life from that enzyme, and this is the thanks I get?"**

"Oh, so you're done?"

**"Yes I am, and I must say, it was easier than it should have been. Those enzymes weren't as strong as I thought they were, more of a curse than a disease to be honest."**

"Alright, so what is the point?"

**"Brat, you need help. Now that I'm not fighting that stupid black chakra, I've taken the liberty of peaking through your memories, and I have a long series of bones to pick with you."**

"You've been looking through my memories? You jerk!"

**"Hey, this is my body too."**

"Oh, right."

**"You're an idiot."**

"Hey!"

**"Shut up and listen. First, you've been training wrong your whole life. You throw weapons wrong, you fight wrong, you go through hand seals wrong, and you practice your chakra control wrong. It is simply amazing how wrong you are."**

"Well, no one ever taught me how to do it right!"

**"I know, I saw it all. You've had some really bad teachers. Honestly, it's a miracle that you're as good as you are with all the crappy teaching."**

"Thanks I guess."

**"No problem. Except for the problem, of course. Namely, if you die, so do I, despite the weakening of the seal. Now that I could care less about escape, seeing how odds are good it will kill me trying, I have a new priority."**

"What's that?"

**"Make you strong enough to live through everything the world can show at you. With the healing I grant you, aging isn't a factor, you'll stop around twenty. However, other people can kill you, despite the effort it takes to do so. As a result, I am going to be giving you proper training from now on. I've got a theory that might let me talk to you when you're conscious, and if it works, I'm going to start teaching you the proper way."**

"Awesome! Will you teach me how to use your chakra?"

**"No, that's mine. It hurts you when you take it, it hurts me when it's taken, and you don't need it anyway. No, rather, I will teach you what you should have been taught in the first place, and then what would normally be taught to you in the future, but undoubtedly won't be."**

"Cool!"

**"In the meantime, you should probably head outside. It would be a shame for someone to kill us while you're unconscious, that would ruin everything."**

Grinning, Naruto nodded in agreement, and closed his eyes.

Shikamaru was smiling lightly as he lazily stepped out of the bushes. No one was entirely sure how one managed to lazily emerge from bushes, but Shikamaru, being Shikamaru, had managed it. Ino was glaring at Sakura as she emerged moments later, and Choji was furiously munching, trying to hide his nerves, as he walked out last.

Sasuke and Sakura, both tired from their previous battle, could only stare.

Shikamaru sighed. "Hey. You don't mind handing over your scrolls without a fight do you?"

Sakura shot to her feet, and Sasuke tensed, as Ino continued Shikamaru's explanation. "Sorry about this Forehead, but we really do need them. You guys have Sasuke, you can get more scrolls."

"Ino-pig, you traitor! You're going to attack Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke snorted as Ino responded. "Of course not! I'm supposed to beat you, which should be easy enough. After all, you always were weaker than me!"

Sakura growled, and as the two kunoichi started circling each other, Sasuke turned towards the two that were facing him, namely, Shikamaru and Choji. "And how do you two expect to beat me?"

The two male ninja grinned at Sasuke, and Shikamaru raised his hands, making them visible, revealing the seal they were in. Suddenly, Sasuke found himself frozen, unable to move, and then forced to imitate Shikamaru's every move as the pineapple haired boy said, "We already have. You forgot to watch your shadow."

Sasuke cursed inwardly as Choji started racing through hand seals, preparing the power packed meat tank move his clan was known for. He should never have forgotten the Nara clan shadow possession moves, and now he was going to pay for it by being run over by a ball of Akimichi blubber.

Not a pleasant way to lose a fight.

But before Choji could finish his seals and turn into a ball of rolling fat, there was a cry, and then a hundred cries.

The first cry was, "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

The hundred identical cries, which came shortly after the first, were, "I'M BACK BABY!"

The fighting ground to a halt.

Ino, looking around at a hundred identical copies, then proceeded to glance at the original. "All we have to do is find the real one right? A bunch of clones can't hurt us! You're just as dumb as I thought Naruto!"

Then, she noticed the smirk on Sakura's face.

Then, she turned to her teammates, and noticed that Shikamaru had paled, while Choji appeared frozen, almost as if he was…

Afraid of Naruto?

"Shikamaru, Choji, what's wrong? So what if he can make a bunch of clones, who cares?"

Shikamaru spoke in an unnecessarily low voice, almost as if he was trying not to provoke a wild animal. "Ino… Those clones… They all shouted. When they move, the tree branches they're standing on move as well. They're solid, each and every one of them."

The clones all smiled as one, and Ino glanced around, taking note now of what Choji and Shikamaru had noticed right away.

Ino paled.

Shikamaru chuckled, and said, "Uh, I guess we should get going then. Thanks for the talk!"

And with that, Team 10 retreated at high speed, leaving Sasuke, Sakura and a hundred or so Narutos behind.

Then, all but one Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke, and it was just the three of them. Sakura immediately moved towards Naruto and smacked him on the head, hard, saying, "Don't worry me like that!"

Naruto staggered back a bit, and then straightened up, chuckling. "Sorry about that Sakura-chan, I didn't mean to!"

Then, he froze. He seemed to stare off into space, and then furrowed his brows, as if angry. A moment later, his eyebrows raised, and then he frowned. Once the odd series of facial positions was all done, he turned to Sakura, a sad look on his face, and said, "Actually Sakura, I'd really like it if you'd stop hitting me."

She seemed stunned, and then frowned. "Why?"

"Umm, apparently it hurts me."

"Umm, alright, I guess I can stop if you really want me to."

Sasuke took a step forward, and Naruto turned to face his other teammate. Then, the blonde boy smiled madly. "Hey there Sasuke! You all done crying?"

Sasuke growled and stalked forward, but Naruto just laughed, and Sasuke stopped stalking, and instead entered what he called 'glare mode', where he refused to do anything other than glare until he absolutely had to. It was ideal for avoiding fan girls like Sakura and Ino, and he had used it often in the past to great effect.

Unfortunately, it had never seemed to faze Naruto.

"Hey, do we still have our scroll?"

Sasuke dropped his glare, and smirked instead. "Actually, yes. Not just that, we got the other scroll too. We're done, let's get going."

Naruto grinned, and walked up to Sasuke. They both turned to look at Sakura, who walked over to join them, deliberately avoiding Naruto's eyes. Sasuke frowned a little at that, but decided it was no trouble. He ignored her and Naruto, and it didn't affect their teamwork at all, so one more uncooperative teammate would just make him ignoring them easier.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Iruka sensei!"

"Naruto! You made it through already?"

"Hey, don't sound so surprised sensei!"

"Well, it's only been two days! You're probably one of the first teams here, and you guys are just rookies, so yeah, I'm a little surprised. I always knew you would pass though!"

"Yay! Iruka sensei is going to buy me ramen!"

"Wait what? When did I say that?"

"Hahaha!"

Sakura took this chance to step forward and say, "Umm, Iruka sensei? What does that poster mean?"

Iruka glanced around for a moment, and then nodded in understanding. "Ah yes, of course. I'm actually supposed to explain it to you, so… Naruto, quiet down and pay attention!" Naruto did so. "If you lack Heaven, search for learning and wisdom, if you lack Earth, run in the fields and seek strength. He who possesses both Heaven and Earth can succeed in any task. This is the motto for Konoha Chuunin, first said by the Third Hokage himself. What it means if, like Sakura, you are strong in mind but weak in body, you should train physically until your weakness is resolved. If, like Naruto, are strong in body but weak in mind, you should work in places like the library, and grow your brain until it matches your body. However if, like Sasuke, you are strong in mind and body, you shall be the pinnacle of strength, and can defeat any challenge you face."

Sasuke smirked, and Sakura seemed to wither in a little bit, obviously not having expected the saying on the wall to turn into a criticism of her talents.

However, when Iruka looked at Naruto, he was surprised to see that Naruto was nodding, almost wisely. Then, he sighed. He had seen this before. "Naruto, you didn't understand a word I said did you."

"Hey sensei, no fair! I mean, I didn't, but I do now! You just said I had to get smarter, so I will!"

Iruka nodded, honestly surprised. "Naruto, good job getting that, I might have underestimated you a bit."

"Thanks sensei! I'll get smarter, believe it!"

Iruka smiled, and said, "Hey, after the exams, I think I might get you that ramen after all."

"Yay! Ramen!"

"Now, because you three arrived three days before the end of the second exam, you're all going to have to stay here for the remainder of the allotted time, in other words, three more days. Rest up, relax, maybe get some training in, really, you can do whatever you want as long as you don't leave this tower. Rooms are on the third floor, each team gets their own room, so you three are going to have to share. Training grounds are underground, there are nearly a dozen of them from what I understand, and there's a library on the fourth floor, if that interests you. Cafeteria is on the second floor, and the food is free, although I don't think they serve ramen."

"Nooo! Ramen!"

"Sorry Naruto."

"And congratulations once again on passing the second exam!"

'Alright fox, how are we going to start this?'

**"Simple. You need to study."**

'What? No way, not happening! I hate studying, it's boring!'

**"I don't particularly care if it's boring. Let me put this in terms you understand, smart good, dumb bad. You dumb, now go work, or Kyuubi sing showtunes. Got it?"**

'Alright, alright. Library was on the fourth floor, right?'

On the third day, Team 8 staggered into the tower, exhausted by their ordeal in the Forest of Death, and honestly still a little frightened by the massacre they had seen on the first day, and their own subsequent brush with death. They were greeted by a Chuunin they had never met before, which did nothing to calm their nerves, the quote was explained, and they were sent on their way.

Almost immediately, Hinata activated her Byakugan to check and see if anyone she knew had made it. With her admittedly limited range, she was able to see both Sakura and Sasuke, Sasuke walking down the halls, Sakura trying to follow him. Upon seeing these two members of Team 7, she immediately realized that Naruto, her crush and stalkee also had to be in the tower somewhere.

Immediately, she excused herself from her team and headed downstairs towards where the Chuunin had said that the training grounds were. This was Naruto, after all, and she knew from years of following him that if he had any spare time at all, he would train, even if it was rarely in the proper methods, it was still training, and it was at the training grounds that she was confident he would be found.

However, upon arrival and hours of searching, she found nothing. Growing frustrated with her inability to find her crush, Hinata decided to check the next likeliest place, the cafeteria.

But even there, Naruto was nowhere to be found. She activated her Byakugan and went back down to the bottom of the tower. Soon, she was slowly moving up, methodically sweeping the tower from bottom to top.

Much to her surprise, it was on the fourth floor that she found the orange clad aspiring Chuunin. The only thing that could have been more surprising than finding the blonde haired ninja in the library was to find out that he was actually reading in said library.

Oddly enough, that was exactly what he was doing. Studying an actual book, something she had never seen him do in all her years of stalking. Her complete surprise led her to check (three times) for a genjutsu, but upon detecting none, decided that what she was seeing was simply a very elaborate prank and settled in to watch and wait for the punchline, from a safe and undetectable distance of course.

Naruto was actually rather surprised to find that, in the past day and a half, he had discovered that knowledge was fun.

It was like a puzzle, and, with this new knowledge flooding into him, all the pieces were coming together. Why did Sasuke want to revive his clan? Why, they were all killed by his brother, who had gone insane! What interest did the weird snake man have in Sasuke, why had he gone after the boy? Well, weird snake man was actually Orochimaru, one of the three legendary Sannin, and the man that had abandoned the village a few years after Naruto was born. His goal in life was to master all jutsu in the world and obtain immortality, and the Sharingan that Sasuke had, with its ability to copy the jutsu of others, was perfect for that goal.

Not only that, but the weaknesses of the Sharingan were being revealed, as tales were told of legendary Sharingan wielders being defeated in battle. Hiding from the opponent was a valid strategy, as was simply turning around, as hand seals can't be copied if they were hidden. Genjutsu were worthless, but something as simple as a smokescreen (or really thick mist) was more than enough. Not only that, but as Lee had proved before the first exam, simply being faster than an opponent would work as well, and using chakra to augment attacks was something that the Sharingan couldn't predict, no matter how good it was. Plus, ninjutsu that couldn't be copied, the example being the First Hokage's wood jutsu in his battle against Madara Uchiha, gave the user a huge advantage.

In essence, the Sharingan was an insanely powerful bloodline riddled with weaknesses, if only one knew how to exploit them.

And all this was learned on that first day.

For the second day, Kyuubi had set him to rounding out his history knowledge. Naruto had finished that about an hour ago, and was now slowly working his way through basic math.

Initially, of course, he had been furious at being forced to learn what was literally the most boring subject in history, but now that opinion was slowly changing, and Naruto was really starting to get into it. Things like trigonometry would let him rapidly calculate the distances between him and an enemy using things as simple as their shadows to figure it out. Vectors, a part of advanced calculus, showed him angles and speeds, the exact sorts of thing needed to increase his accuracy with throwing weapons, calculate courses on intercept missions, and other things like that. And that wasn't all. Everything he learned on his second day in the tower was applicable in the real world, and that was that.

With the help of what Kyuubi called his ridiculous retention ability, they finished math halfway through day four, and moved on to applying what he had learned to his actual physical fighting style.

First up was weapons, the easiest thing to correct. Really, it was a simple matter of adjusting how he threw them, and then integrating this new throwing style into his muscle memory. It only took a few hours to succeed, leaving the Kyuubi to start teaching him something entirely new to him.

Back when Kakashi had taught Team 7 the tree climbing exercise, Naruto had noticed that Sasuke had gained a massive speed boost. He had, at the time, thought that this was because of all the muscle building running up a tree required, but Kyuubi had revealed that this was not the case. Instead, Sasuke had taken the tree climbing exercise to the next step, something Sakura had also done since then, although not in time for the battle on the bridge.

Of course, no one had bothered to tell Naruto about it.

Still, Kyuubi was soon working with the blonde ninja to rectify this mistake, and in no time at all, Naruto was zipping around just as fast as Sasuke had been in the fight with Haku.

Then the last day of the second phase came.

**"Now then, I'd say you've caught up to your peers on weaponry, at the very least you're ninety percent accurate, far better than before. You're probably twice as fast as you were five days ago too, so that's good. To be honest, there' not much more I can do. I don't know any taijutsu styles, I never had any reason to learn ninjutsu, and I've never bothered paying attention to genjutsu either. I'm pretty much all taught out."**

'Why? Shouldn't you have some super cool explosion that you can teach me?'

**"Nope. I'm pretty much done."**

'So what do I do for the rest of the day?'

**"I don't know, work out or something. You can never be too strong."**

So he did.

"Could all the competitors that passed the second portion of the exam please report to the first floor? Could all the competitors that passed the second portion of the exam please report to the first floor? Could…"

And so on.

Naruto dropped the weights he had been lifting and got up, heading up from the basement where he had been working out. It was a matter of moments to freshen up a tiny bit, just enough to keep the stink from knocking anyone out, and then he emerged from the bowels of the tower and moved to join his teammates, who were waiting for him.

Soon, the Hokage was talking, but Naruto didn't pay much attention until he heard the Hokage mention the history of the exams.

History was so useful.

"These exams are not simply tests. Although their public, and indeed, their primary purpose is to test our shinobi and discover if they are worthy of the title of Chuunin, there is also a second, darker purpose."

Into the silence, the Hokage smirked, and spoke. "The second purpose is war."

The shocked mutters seemed to make the Hokage smirk even more, and he continued with that knowing grin still on his face. "War. For years, war ravaged our nations, tearing our lands apart and killing people in pointless displays of strength. But peace has fallen over these lands, in a complex web of alliances preventing any side from moving without being countered by an equal and opposite force. These exams serve as a way to show off our strength without devastating each other, and even serve to jumpstart entire economies, bringing entire nations out of obscurity. Small countries who do well in the exams gain fame, and the missions and income that come along with it, while any nation that fails to impress the potential customers watching loses that same income, along with their prestige, and may eventually fail, losing the little 'war' that is being waged."

The red haired boy from the Sand whose name Naruto had somehow forgot shifted uncomfortably, and then said "Let's get on to the fighting."

The Hokage frowned, and all the senior ninja in the room stirred a little at the obvious disrespect, but the elderly leader of Konoha seemed to brush the insult off, and instead smiled. "Very well. Hayate."

A sickly looking Special Jonin appeared, saying, in the middle of a pair of coughs, "Hello, my name is Hayate Gekko, and I'm the proctor for the Third Phase of the Chuunin Exams."

They stared at him, every single prospective Chuunin thinking in unison, 'how can a guy so sick be a ninja?'

He seemed to blush a bit, as if he knew what they were thinking, but forged on regardless. "Anyway, unfortunately this year we have far too many competitors, either because the test was too easy or you all are too 'cough cough' good. So we're going to be holding 'cough' some preliminaries."

Naruto let his mind wander through the complaints, and focused once more when the sickly proctor started talking once more. "Yes, we are holding them now. I'm sorry if you got hurt during the Second Exam, but that is the nature of things. 'cough cough' Now, this will be one on one elimination style combat, if you lose, you're out. Now, if you want to drop out now, please do so, it won't affect your team in 'cough cough' any way."

Almost immediately, Kabuto, the silver haired genin from the first test that had given them information on Gaara and Lee, raised his hand, saying, "I quit."

He walked out after having a brief conversation with his teammates, causing some muttering amongst the ninja standing near the Hokage.

When it was clear no one else was willing to drop out, Hayate said, "Alright, this board will be what is deciding your fate. It will randomly select the matches from among the shinobi present. Since there are only twenty of us now, there will be ten matches, winners will proceed to the third round."

The board started to flash and flicker through names, until finally, it settled.

Rock Lee vs. Sakura Haruno


	4. The Disappointing Fight

Ok, my first ever author's note! Last chapter got a bunch of reviews, and since most of them had something to do with the Sakura/Lee fight, I wanted to clear something up before you read the chapter and try to stab something. 'Fight' probably isn't the best way to describe it. I know a bunch of people were looking forward to seeing how I made this fight interesting, and I'd like to apologize in advance to those people. Now, on with the show!

Also, since I haven't done it yet and I think I probably should, I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.

* * *

Chapter 4

"Sakura-chan! If I defeat you, will you go on a date with me?"

"Eww, no!"

"If you defeat me, will you go on a date with me?"

"I said no!"

"Very well! Then let us fight to the best of our abilities!"

The proctor blinked, and looked between the two. Lee was in his Strong Fist stance, and Sakura was in a shaky version of the basic academy stance.

This match wasn't going to last long.

"Begin."

Thud.

And Sakura was unconscious on the ground, while Lee stood over her, a frown on his face.

The proctor chuckled and shook his head. "Winner, Rock Lee."

As Rock Lee walked up the stairs to have a hushed (and confused) conversation with his sensei, the green clad Might Guy, the board started flashing again, until the next two names appeared.

Ino Yamanaka vs. Kiba Inuzuka

Hayate wasn't a happy man. The Chuunin Exams were supposed to be an exhibition of skill, a way for Konoha to impress the other villages, to showcase their skill, and instead, this. The first two fights involved two powerful ninja of Konoha fighting against what essentially amounted to two civilian level fighters.

Ino and Sakura. They wore their hair long, they dressed like no ninja should dress, and they had no fighting skills to speak of. Sakura had been so damn pitiful that Lee had been surprised, _surprised_, that he had beaten her so easily.

And representatives from two foreign nations were present to watch the whole thing.

After a brief round of posturing, bragging and name calling, Hayate called the start of the match. Two seconds later, Ino was on the ground groaning, and Kiba was unknowingly matching Lee's pose from earlier. He turned to the proctor and said, "Umm, I guess you should call it. Is she ok?"

The proctor snorted and shook his head. "Winner, Kiba Inuzuka."

Kiba frowned and walked back up the stairs, before entering a hushed conversation with his teacher Kurenai to match the one Lee and Guy were still engaged in.

Hayate just glanced at the board, trying not to look towards the teams from Sand and Sound.

He didn't even want to know what they were thinking.

The board flashed again, names racing across it at a furious rate. Finally, they settled.

Choji Akimichi vs. Yoroi Akado

"I'm doing this for Barbeque!"

"Figures a fatty like you would fight for food."

"What… did you call me?"

**"Alright brat, now is as good a time as any to start."**

'Start with what?'

**"You've improved far faster than anyone has any right to since I woke up, but you still have weaknesses. One of them is analyzing your opponent."**

'What do you mean?'

**"Every fight you've been in so far has been fought on the spur of the moment. You have yet to make so much as a single coherent plan, and won't work forever. Eventually you will face an opponent that is stronger than you and can't be beaten with the simple methods that you have been using so far. Eventually, you will need to learn how to make a plan, and in order to do that, you need to have some idea of what your opponent is capable of before you start fighting."**

'How?'

**"Look at the two of them down there. Tell me what you see."**

'Well… Choji is a little overweight. Whenever people make fun of him for being fat, he gets really angry, like this guy just did. Actually, I think all Akimichi are like that.'

**"What does that tell you?"**

'Well… This guy is from Konoha, so he should know that… Which means he wants Choji angry.'

**"Now, focus on Choji's fighting style. What is he likely to do?"**

'Well, we read a lot about expansion when it comes to the Akimichi clan. Probably something to do with that.'

**"Yes, now look at him and tell me how you could come to that conclusion without previous resources."**

'Well, he's fat. And he has the Akimichi swirls on his cheeks, so I could figure that out. And his clothes look kind of loose on him, which is weird since he's probably rich, so he can get better clothes. That means they need to stretch so he can do his jutsu.'

**"Good. Now, why is the other guy trying to provoke Choji?"**

As they spoke, Choji roared out a jutsu names and shot forward, now a rolling ball of meat.

'He wants Choji in close! Which means he has some technique that requires close up attacks…'

Now, the sunglasses wearing kid fighting Choji raised his hand, which was now glowing. It brushed against Choji, and Choji immediately popped out of his meat tank. He bounced a bit and then skidded to a halt, staggering as he went.

"H-how did you do that?"

The sunglasses wearing boy grinned and held up his glowing hand. "I can absorb other people's chakra through my hand, and use it as my own. Thanks for that, by the way, I was feeling a little tired."

**"Alright brat, who is going to win?"**

The sunglasses wearing boy charged forward, shouting, "This is the end!"

'Choji. The Akimichi are known for having a lot of chakra, there's no way he ran out from just one blow.'

"PARTIAL EXPANSION JUTSU!"

And it was over. Choji had expanded his arm and sent it flying at Yoroi, who hadn't even been able to dodge. The glasses wearing genin had taken the full force of the blow and smashed hard into a wall, knocking him out in an instant.

"Winner, Choji Akimichi!"

**"Good job brat."**

Shino Aburame vs. Gaara of the Sand

"I surrender."

Mutters filled the stadium as everyone looked at Shino in surprise. Gaara, who had just started walking for the stadium floor, turned around and walked back, with no change in expression.

**"Analyze."**

'Shino's entire team looks scared, they're all eyeing Gaara. They're all afraid of him. Something happened in the forest, something bad, and they saw it, and because of it, they don't want to fight Gaara.'

**"And is Gaara strong?"**

'Yeah. His teammates, even his teacher, they're all acting the same. They're all afraid of him.'

**"Good. Can you tell me why?"**

Naruto hesitated, eyeing Gaara and his team, waiting, trying to figure it out. 'I… I don't know. I mean, all I know is that he is really stealthy, cause he snuck up on Sasuke, and that he's done a B ranked mission without getting a single scratch. That's not really enough to tell me anything.'

**"So it is. I don't know why they fear him, but I do know that you should. Stay away from him, got it?"**

'Of course.'

Dosu vs. Shikamaru Nara

**"Begin."**

'Shikamaru's a Nara, which means that he's a shadow user. There aren't really that many shadows in the arena, which means he's at a disadvantage. On the other hand, this guy doesn't exactly look very maneuverable, and we've seen his attack, all of us have. I know for a fact that Shikamaru's really smart, so he's probably got the whole thing figured out by now. Plus, that Dosu guy is still hurt from his fight with Sasuke and Sakura, and it looks like his new gauntlet thing isn't as strong. From what Sakura said, his arm was pretty messed up by the explosion, so I'm calling this one for Shikamaru.'

As Naruto was thinking, Dosu had charged at Shikamaru. Shikamaru had quickly lengthened his shadow and captured his opponent, and then he had reached for some explosive tags. He had them located in a position that Dosu didn't, same with the kunai he strapped them to. He threw them all around Dosu, and, when Dosu refused to surrender, he released his shadow and detonated them.

Needless to say, Dosu was knocked out by the explosions, and Shikamaru was declared the winner.

Sasuke Uchiha vs. Kankuro

**"No need to analyze this one, just watch, Sasuke especially."**

'Gotcha.'

"Begin!"

Immediately, Sasuke sprinted forward, neither of them bothering to speak. Kankuro rushed as well, showing surprising balance considering the massive bundle on his back.

They were soon on top of each other, exchanging blows rapid fire, but that didn't last long. Sasuke was obviously outmatched, being driven back with every exchange, and only barely able to keep pace with his older counterpart.

That is, until Sasuke struck a direct blow to Kankuro's head, knocking it clean off.

Suddenly, the bundle around Kankuro's back unwrapped, and out of it shot Kankuro. The first Kankuro, the one that had been fighting Sasuke, suddenly sprouted an extra pair of arms and raced towards Sasuke, who had jumped back after knocking off 'Kankuro's' head. Sasuke jumped back more, trying to figure out what was going on, while the real Kankuro raced through a few hand seals and muttered a jutsu name under his breath, too low to be heard.

With that, Kankuro faded from sight, leaving only a puppet racing around, chasing a flipping and fleeing Sasuke. Suddenly, with a surge of chakra, Sasuke's eyes turned into a pair of two tomoe Sharingan. Instantly, his movements changed, instead of simply running away, he was now dodging around the puppet, and racing towards what appeared to be an empty patch of air. He was a few feet away from his apparent destination, kunai ready to throw and puppet chasing after him, when the air patch suddenly shimmered, and out of it shot Kankuro, cursing up a storm. Sasuke skidded to a halt, and spun to face Kankuro, who was in mid air. Sasuke started racing through hand seals, while the puppet approached from behind.

Blades popped out of the puppet, and it raced towards Sasuke, blades extended. Sasuke finished ripping through hand seals and shouted, "Fire Style, Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"

Six small fireballs shot out of Sasuke's mouth, racing towards Kankuro, who was still in midair. The puppets blades smashed into Sasuke, and he cried out in pain. The fireballs hit Kankuro, who screamed and hit the ground, badly singed and unconscious. The puppet fell to the ground, the blades falling out of Sasuke, who was standing shakily, wobbling.

The proctor looked between the two, and seemed to hesitate. Soon after though, he raised his hand and said, "Winner 'cough' Uchiha Sasuke!"

Sasuke collapsed, and vomited.

Instantly, Kakashi was in the arena with the pale and shaking Uchiha. Medics raced over to join him, already racing through hand seals. One of them held glowing green hands over Sasuke and said, "The blades didn't hit any vital points, but he's bleeding bad, and it looks like he's poisoned too."

Kakashi immediately said, "Can you heal him?"

"Of course, the poison is strong, but an old one, we have an antidote. We'll need to take him to the hospital."

As they were talking, the board was flashing. Finally, it settled on two names.

Naruto Uzumaki vs. Neji Hyuuga

"I'm sorry, but 'cough cough' could you all leave the arena, we have another fight."

Kakashi looked up at the board and visibly flinched. He turned to the last of his students and said, "Naruto, I'll see you at the hospital when you're done."

And he was gone, following the medics and Sasuke out.

Naruto grimaced and jumped down, while Neji simply took the stairs. Naruto calmly strode to the center of the arena, already trying to figure out how to win, as per Kyuubi's instructions. Soon, Neji was there as well, facing him. The proctor glanced between the two of them, a frown marring his sickly features.

"Begin."

Neji simply smirked, and settled into a fighting stance. "You stand no chance at victory. The instant you were chosen for my opponent, you lost."

Naruto chuckled a little, and closed his eyes.

'Kyuubi? Advice?'

**"Provoke him. Everyone has a weakness, make him reveal his."**

Naruto opened his eyes, and found Neji in the exact same stance he had been in moments ago.

"What, you didn't attack while my eyes were closed?"

"Of course not. That would be the move of someone that needs an advantage in this fight, someone like you.. I am not weak, thus I did not attack."

"So what can you do? Why are you so strong?"

Neji smirked. "Do you truly believe I will simply give you my secrets?"

"It was worth a try."

Neji smirked again. Naruto was starting to think that 'smirk' was just his default setting. "I'm afraid that is simply not true. All your petty tricks, every move you can possibly make, I can see them all."

Naruto grinned, remembering one of Kakashi's lines from a long ago fight. "Do you see the future?"

Neji's smirk faded, and Naruto smirked in return. "Of course not, no one can do that."

"Do you see destiny?"

That damn smirk returned. "Yes. Your destiny is defeat today."

Naruto closed his eyes again. ' What do I do? How do I get him to attack?'

**"He's not giving you anything. We can't insult him because we don't know what he is most proud of, that's what we have to learn."**

Naruto opened his eyes, and found Neji still staring at him, still in that same position.

'Sorry Kyuubi, but he knows what we're trying to do. He's on guard, he won't tell us anything, and what he does say will be misleading.'

**"So what's your plan then?"**

'Shadow clones. It should let us gather enough intelligence to fight him on an even level, more or less.'

"Who are you talking to?"

"What?"

"My eyes are trained to pick up on body language, to understand how people feel and what they are doing by how they stand, how they hold themselves. You were just having a conversation with someone."

"And who do you think that was?"

**"Careful boy. Look at the Hokage, he's wary, so are the other Jonin. They know of me, and they fear me. Stay on guard."**

"I don't know. An informant perhaps? Telling you of my abilities?"

Neji turned his head to look up into the stands. "Dear cousin, you wouldn't do that would you?"

Naruto frowned, and turned to look up into the stands. There, he saw the pale eyed girl from his class, Hi something. Suddenly, he spun to look at Neji, and realized something.

"You two have the same eyes."

"Yes, we are blood cousins."

"Oh. No, she wasn't who I was talking to. Actually, I was talking to myself. I have split personalities. Hundreds of them. Thousands, even. The voices in my head tell me to sing."

Neji frowned. "You're lying."

"Let's get on with this."

Neji smirked again, and settled deeper into his fighting stance. "Yes. Let's."

Naruto grinned and made his favorite hand seal. In an instant, the arena was filled with clones. Neji smirked, and said, "Illusions are useless. My eye sees all."

He held up a hand seal and said, "Byakugan!"

Naruto grinned madly, all of them, all at once. Then, with one voice, they said, "Illusions our ass!"

And with that, they charged.

It was very quickly clear why Neji thought he would win. He was fast, he was precise, his every move a kill. Each strike was a set up for the next, every blow perfectly calculated to kill one clone, and prepare him to kill the next. There was no wasted motion, and in what seemed like seconds, it was just the two of them again.

'He's too fast. Way too fast.'

**'Try again, everyone has a weakness."**

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Again, the arena was filled with clones, and again, they charged. Neji smirked once more and rushed forward, his hands flashing, obviously going after one Naruto in particular. He stormed through the sea of orange in a blur and struck the Naruto he had targeted in the stomach, the smirk growing wider as he did.

Then, Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The last three clones and the real Naruto all shot towards Neji from behind, but he simply spun around and struck with lighting speed and precision, popping the three clones and sending Naruto flying.

"You see now? It is useless. I have seen your fate, and it is defeat."

Naruto closed his eyes.

'I have a plan.'

**"Risky. But I can do my part. Go for it."**

Naruto opened his eyes, and without a word, filled the arena with shadow clones for a third time. Then, half the shadow clones made hand seals, and transformed into explosive tags, which the other half quickly slapped onto their backs.

Then, they surged chakra through the exploding notes, and charged forward as one.

Neji's smirk disappeared and turned into a grimace. The clones were attacking in a set pattern, one coordinated with the varied timers on the explosive tags, making it so that it was nearly impossible for Neji to keep his balance, or even survive the firestorm that Naruto had created. But soon enough, Neji had changed his pattern. Instead of simply mindlessly dodging, he once more moved with purpose, he once more targeted a specific orange clad genin, simply dodging the rest. Within moments, he was right on top of his chosen target. Then, a pissed off look clear in his eyes, he surged chakra into his hand, more than enough to kill.

And he struck Naruto dead in the heart.

Naruto froze, staggered back, coughed up blood, and disappeared into smoke..

There was one last explosion behind Neji, and another Naruto shot towards him, propelled by the force of the blast. This Naruto, his back scorched and burnt by the exploding tag, held two more of the tags, both of them sizzling rapidly and nearing the ends of their fuses. As he flew by Neji at an incredible speed, he reached out and slapped the tags onto the shocked genin.

They both went off simultaneously, and even as Naruto hit the ground and skidded, leaving a trail of blood behind him, Neji flew into the arena wall, unconscious and badly hurt.

The whole arena was silent.

Naruto slowly rose to his feet, until he was standing all the way up.

'Kyuubi, don't heal me.'

**"What? Are you insane?"**

'Just wait. Let him call it, and then heal me. I want to win this fight without you. I need to prove that I can.'

**"…"**

'Please.'

**"Alright brat. Until they call the match, and not a second later."**

"Proctor, I think I won."

The sickly Special Jonin turned his head to look at Naruto, who was still bleeding badly from his back, his spine almost visible through the torn flesh caused by the explosion he himself had set off on his back.

"Proctor, soon would be nice."

Naruto was speaking in a strained voice, struggling to stay conscious against the blood loss.

"Umm… Winner, Naruto Uzumaki."

Instantly, Naruto fell to his hands and knees. Burning chakra surged through his body, out from his stomach and towards his back. It felt hot and cold at the same time, and, even as he coughed up blood, Naruto felt the damage start to repair itself, felt himself start to stitch back together, no longer parts, and now a whole.

Naruto looked up, and found himself looking at the business end of the Hokage's kunai.

"Naruto. Am I talking to you?"

Naruto, now clad completely in an cloak of orange chakra, just gritted his teeth through the pain and grunted out, "Yeah, it's me old man. Just a little healing."

The Hokage withdrew his kunai, a grim look on his face. "When this is all over, we are going to have a very serious talk."

Naruto rose to his feet, feeling the last of the internal damage going away as he did, leaving only surface wounds.

"Alright old man."

"Now go to the medics."

"No, I'm ok, I just want to watch."

The Hokage visibly hesitated, and then said, "Are you sure you'll be ok?"

'Kyuubi?'

**"Yes, you'll be fine. And I agree, you should watch the competition."**

"Yeah, I'll be alright."

The orange cloak faded away, and the Hokage stepped back, a grim look on his face.

"Very well. You are on a very short leash right now Naruto, do not betray my trust in you."

Naruto nodded and started limping towards the stairs to take him back up to the top. He noticed out of the corner of his eye Ino reentering the arena from the medic area, meaning she had woken up from the damage Kiba had dealt her, if it could really be counted as damage, considering what Naruto had just done to himself. Naruto limped his way up the stairs, ignoring the looks he was getting from others, both Jonin and genin. He made his way to a good spot, passing Team 8 as he did, noticing the tense stance of the red eyed woman in charge of that team while he passed them.

He reached his spot, and leaned against the rail, groaning in relief at the sudden lack of pressure on his legs, as their healing finished up.

**"I'm going to finish up on your back. Fair warning, this is going to hurt."**

Naruto groaned in pain as the red chakra surged to his back, repairing damaged skin muscle and nerve cells.

Even as feeling started to return, various ninja finished repairing the damage to the field caused by the explosions, and the board started flashing once again.

Tenten vs. Kin


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As the two girls started down towards the arena, the voice in Naruto's head started talking again.

**"Alright brat, now seems like as good a time as ever to try out a theory of mine. When you were using my chakra against that Haku boy, did you notice any sensory enhancements?"**

_'Yeah, a little bit. That's supposed to happen right?'_

**"Yes it is, but it doesn't make sense. Simply channeling chakra into your nose doesn't instantly make you capable of smelling things better, if it did, every ninja would be doing it. Just because it was my chakra shouldn't mean anything. My chakra remains just chakra, simply far more intense, and shouldn't have actually changed how you were sensing things. Eyesight, maybe, sound, perhaps, but it should not have enhanced your sense of smell. If anything, your own flesh burning should have decreased your sense of smell, but it did not."**

_'So what does that mean? Do I have a bloodline or something?'_

**"If my theory is correct, you very well might. Try channeling chakra to your whisker marks."**

Naruto subtly made a hand seal in the ragged remains of his tattered jumpsuit and carefully guided his chakra to the distinctive whisker marks on his cheeks. When it finally arrived, his eyes widened.

It was an incredible sensation. It was like he had been blind, and now he could _see!_ Colors were brighter, scents sharper, sounds clearer, he could feel the breeze from the ridiculous amounts of weapons being thrown by the girl called Tenten, he could taste the leftovers of blood coughed up after he had blown half his own back off. Every single one of his senses were drastically enhanced, to easily superhuman levels.

** "I thought as much."**

_'Kyuubi, what is this? Is this what having whiskers feels like? This is, this is so awesome! I, oh my god!'_

**"Calm down brat. And no, this is not what having whiskers feel like. This is what your unique bloodline feels like, apparently, and I must say it's more impressive than I thought it would be."**

_'Wow, you mean I have a bloodline! Awesome! My whiskers are actually useful, instead of just stupid looking!'_

**"Stupid looking? I resent that, I made those, more or less. Oh look, the fight's almost over."**

It took Naruto a moment to realize why Kin was looking so desperate and terrified, and why the battlefield was thoroughly littered not just with weapons of all sorts, but also with lots of little bells. As chakra faded away from his whisker marks, he spotted what was going on with the last little bit of boosted eyesight he had left in him.

Kin threw what essentially amounted to a swarm of senbon, all of them with little bells attached to them, and started frantically tugging on small strings attached to the bells the instant they even approached Tenten, but before they could do much more than ring once, the bun haired genin from Konoha would throw a veritable hail of weapons, cutting each and every string in a matter of seconds. This had clearly been going on for a while, and kept on going for a few more volleys before Tenten appeared to get bored of essentially toying with her opponent and took her out with a single spread of various pointy weapons.

Kin was quickly carted out of the arena for medical treatment while Tenten and her green clad teammate, along with their similarly green clad teacher, gathered up her various thrown weapons, and all the senbon Kin had thrown as well, for good measure.

Even before all the weapons had been gathered up the board started flashing, and it landed on a pair of names moments after the non injured parts of Team Guy had finished leaving the arena.

Misumi Tsurugi vs. Hinata Hyuuga

**"Back to work. Analysis please."**

_'That Misumi guy looks like a close range fighter, either that or an exclusive ninjutsu user, considering how he has absolutely no weapons on him. And his clothes look like they have a lot of elastic in them, just like Choji did, so if I were to take a guess, I'd say he can stretch or something, even if he doesn't look like an Akimichi.'_

Misumi rushed towards Hinata, and soon was wrapping his limbs around her, threatening to break her neck. She seemed to shuffle a bit, and blushingly placed her hand on his stomach even as he kept on threatening her. A quick flash of blue and he was on the ground, coughing up blood. Hinata returned to her team after being declared the winner, and quietly accepted her teammate's congratulations while the next two names flashed across the board.

Temari vs. Zaku Abumi

The final two fighters, one from Sound and one from Sand, made their way down to the arena. Zaku had a huge grin on his face, his confidence clearly unshaken by his defeat at the hands of Team 7. Temari, meanwhile, was looking serious. She was clearly not taking this battle lightly, a fact made all the more clear by the fact that she unfolded the giant metal object on her back, now revealed to be a fan, all the way before the fight even started.

Zaku grinned at her, and said, "Hey, this is going to be easy! Look at you, you need a fan just to use wind techniques!"

She smirked, and said, "I'm going to end this in one move. I'm honestly in a pretty bad mood right now with a brother in the hospital, so I'm just going to finish you off quickly."

Zaku just kept on grinning, and the proctor, looking between the two of them, raised his hand and lowered it. "Begin!"

Temari swung her fan as Zaku raised his hands. "Kamaitachi no jutsu!" "Zankuha!"

The two powerful wind attacks collided, but it wasn't much of a collision. Temari's fan aided attack easily overwhelmed Zaku's tube assissted jutsu, brushing it aside like it was nothing. The cutting winds smashed into him, and lifted him into the air, slicing him up all over, before dropping him to the ground, groaning and bleeding all over. He struggled to get to his feet, a determined look on his bloodied face, but Temari simply snapped her fan closed and threw it at him. It struck him dead on in the head, knocking him out in an instant. She pulled her fan back to her, showing her proficiency with chakra strings, just like her puppeteer brother, and snapped the folded fan back onto her back, a grim look on her face the whole time.

"Winner, Temari of the Sand!"

The Hokage rose to his feet, and in an instant all attention was shifted to his commanding presence. Old though he was, he was still a figure of strength, and someone to be respected. He had once been the strongest ninja in the world, and was named Hokage at an incredibly young age. Even now, far past his prime, he was still known for his incredible power and knowledge, and only a precious few would dare fight him head on.

"Would all the winners please come to the arena floor, there are still a few things to take care of before we can let you go."

Soon they were gathered, lined up in a row like the good little ninja they were. Choji and Shikamaru stood at the far left, with Naruto next to Shikamaru, the boy being one of the few people Naruto could honestly call his friend. To Naruto's other side stood Kiba, another of Naruto's more or less friends, at the very least a prank buddy, and a fellow troublemaker.

To Kiba's right stood Hinata, who was looking surprised at her presence in the winner's circle, while to her right stood both Lee and Tenten, both whispering to each other, and seemingly sizing up the competition. Finishing up the lineup were Gaara and Temari, with Gaara standing towards the inside and Temari to the outside, the blonde girl trying to look confident while standing next to her red headed teammate, and almost pulling it off.

As the Hokage started talking, Naruto tuned him out, and started communicating with his latest precious person. _'I think I know why they're all afraid of Gaara.'_

**"It makes sense, nothing else really stands out like that does as a possible explanation. Use your whiskers, check his smell.."**

Naruto surged a bit of chakra to his marks, wincing momentarily at the smell of smoke to his left (from Team 10 picked up from their sensei) and dogs to his right. He managed to tune it out though, marveling at the abilities of his newly discovered bloodline as he did, and stretched his senses far to the right.

The first thing he smelled was the overwhelming stench of blood. Insane amounts, the blood of hundreds, if not thousands of different scents. That was Gaara.

Naruto ignored the feeling of terror that was threatening to well up in him and moved further, struggling to get past the blood.

Then, he reached her. And he smelled it, exactly what he had been expecting. Fear and hatred.

And something else.

_'Hey Kyuubi?'_

**"She feels affection for him."**

_'Wait, what? How does that work? Can you really fear and hate someone, and love them at the same time? And these aren't subtle either, she feels really strong enough about all of this!'_

**"Well, she called her other teammate her brother. It really isn't far outside of the realm of possibility that Gaara is her brother too."**

'Damn, that's pretty intense. So what do we do?'

**"Well, this helps us figure out his abilities. He is clearly a Jinchuriki."**

_'A what? I thought he was just a demon container…'_

**"Jinchuriki, it means human sacrifice, it's just another word for a demon container. Considering the fact that he is from the Sand, and adding in the rings around his eyes, and I would be surprised if he wasn't the container of the Shukaku, one tailed demon of the sand."**

_'What does that mean?'_

**"A few things, actually. First of all, Gaara has control over sand, which is probably what that gourd is filled with. He's also insane."**

_'What? You mean all Jinchiriki are insane?'_

**"It's pronounced Jinchuriki, and no, that's not what I mean. Shukaku hosts lose their ability to sleep. If he falls asleep, even for a short amount of time, Shukaku emerges and begins absorbing his soul further, going on a killing spree as he does.. The human body isn't meant to go without sleep, and the insanity is made worse by the fact that Shukaku takes over more and more of his personality the more he sleeps. At this point, all of the previous containers were dead or completely insane, the fact that he is out in public and not busily slaughtering everything he sees proves that he has far better resilience than most. Of course, it probably helps that at least one of his siblings loves him."**

'What do you mean?'

**"Demon hosts are very unique. They automatically release pheromones and signals that lead people to like them, but they face far greater obstacles than most in persuading people to do so. In essence, if even the slightest chance is given, a Jinchuriki will gain the love of whoever is giving them that chance, no matter what. However, people will rarely give a Jinchuriki that chance. And any Jinchuriki that doesn't receive love will go insane, without exception. You avoided this fate thanks in large part to the Third Hokage, initially, with the Ichiraku family joining in later on, and Iruka during your graduation."**

_'Wow. I guess I should thank them.'_

**"Yes. This boy has been saved, at least in part, from his insanity by the love of his siblings, or at least sibling. However, that love is tempered by fear, and unless that fear goes away, he will reach the final stages and snap."**

_'How long does he have?'_

**"A year, maybe two."**

_'I… I want to help him. I want to save him.'_

**"He is from another village, and would likely kill you on sight. This is up to them."**

_'That's… that's not right. Are there other Jinchuriki?'_

**"Yes. With nine Biju, tailed beasts, there are nine Jinchuriki, likely scattered across the elemental nations."**

_'I have to help them. They're like my siblings, they're just like me! I have to save them!'_

**"It is possible. Even the feeling of being needed can hold off the insanity, and love given too late can still heal some wounds. Since most villages use their Jinchuriki despite the hatred, the feeling of being needed will still be present. That should help stave off some of the insanity, and at least leave them salvageable."**

'Do you think I can do it?'

**"Now isn't the time to be asking that. Pay attention."**

"Hurry up old man, get to the fighting."

The Hokage and Naruto both frowned simultaneously at the lack of respect Gaara was showing, along with almost all the other Leaf ninja in the room, but the elderly leader of Konoha merely shrugged, and said, "Very well, Anko, if you please."

The crazy proctor from the second exam stepped forward, a grim look on her face. "If you could all please draw a number from this bag."

Choji and Shikamaru did so without trouble, but when Naruto did, he couldn't help but notice the glare that she was giving him. When she continued on, Naruto frowned, and thought, _'What was that about? She didn't seem to hate me before the second exam, why does she now?'_


	6. Chapter 6

AN/ A few things to address. First of all, people have been reviewing asking about pairings. As of this point in time, there is no pairing planned. That doesn't mean there won't be one, just that I haven't been able to work it into the plot yet, although I can tell you for sure that it will not be Naru/Hina or Naru/Saku, because I have plans for both Hinata and Sakura that makes both of those pairings impossible. Second of all, I've recieved a couple of reviews saying my chapters are too short. I honestly don't know how long a chapter is supposed to be, since this is my first story on FF, but my previous limit was between 2000 and 4000 words. After this chapter, I'm going to move the limit up to 3000-5000, and I hope that solves the problem. If that's not enough, please review or PM me and tell me. This chapter is still with my old limit, so it will probably be a little short, and I'm sorry about that. Anyway, on with the story.

Chapter 6

The crazy proctor from the second exam stepped forward, a grim look on her face. "If you could all please draw a number from this bag."

Choji and Shikamaru did so without trouble, but when Naruto did, he couldn't help but notice the glare that she was giving him. When she continued on, Naruto frowned, and thought, _'What was that about? She didn't seem to hate me before the second exam, why does she now?'_

**"We can find out later. What's your number?"**

Naruto glanced down, and found a big fat nine staring back up at him. The irony was not lost on him or the nine tailed demon within him.

Anko took a step back, Temari having just drawn her number, and said, "Could you all please read off your numbers?"

They started, going from right to left. "Six" "Four" "Nine" "Five" "Seven" "Ten" "Three" "One" and finally, "Eight."

Anko turned around and fiddled with a piece of paper, before spinning back around to face the assembled genin. "Very well, these are your match ups for the final round, barring any sudden disqualifications."

No one could have missed the glare she sent Naruto's way at that.

'Ok, what the hell?'

**"Quiet. Look at the board."**

Naruto did, and saw that they had been set up in a tournament style bracket, with four people on one bracket and six on the second. The second bracket looked a little unusual, with the winners of the fourth and fifth matches fighting each other before the winner of that fought the winner of the third in a semifinals match. Whoever won that battle would, of course, head to the finals to face the champion of the first bracket.

And, interestingly enough, his opponent was Lee, the taijutsu user that had given Sasuke a serious beat down before the exams, and had then proceeded to knock out Sakura with a single blow. He saw that Gaara was fighting Sasuke in the first match, which was bound to be an interesting one, a fight that was going to be followed by Tenten going up against Shikamaru. The third match was Kiba and Choji, while the fourth match was Hinata against Temari. And, of course, that left only the final match for him and Lee.

'So we get an extra fight if we can get past Lee just to get to the finals.'

**"Yes, and Gaara faces the one that is supposedly the strongest ninja of your year in the first round in the first match. This will turn out interesting."**

"Alright, rules are the same as here. You all have a month to get ready, spy on your enemies, learn something new, whatever the hell you want to be honest. No fighting each other before your matches, other than that, anything goes. Now get the hell out of here."

Naruto noticed the frown on the Hokage's face and almost chuckled. Whatever her reason for suddenly hating him, she was going to get a stern talking to. He knew the look on the old man's face, he had seen it a hundred times before.

But before he could make it all the way out of the door, he heard the Hokage say, "Naruto, our talk."

Naruto frowned, and turned back around, noting out of the corner of his eye the look on the red eyed teacher's face.

Yeah, she didn't like him either. Her and snake lady, what the hell was going on here?

He walked towards the Hokage, nervously noticing that the creepy lady, apparently called Anko, was remaining behind, and even releasing a bit of killing intent. He surged a bit of chakra to his cheeks and was almost overwhelmed by what he could smell.

She didn't just hate him, she loathed him, she wanted him dead. Her hatred easily overwhelmed that of the red eyed woman moving out of the room.

The Hokage rose to his feet, groaning and creaking as he did, but before he could say a word, Anko _moved_.

Naruto had seen speed before. Lee had been fast, Orochimaru had been fast, even though the Sannin had been holding back a hell of a lot, but Anko was _fast_, a speed fueled by her rage. She smashed into Naruto, and an instant later, smashed Naruto into a wall. She had somehow drawn and struck with three kunai, one holding Naruto up by the tattered remnants of hiss clothing, while her right hand held a kunai to his throat and her left pointed the third at his heart.

All was silent, and then the Hokage spoke, saying, "Anko, release him."

Anko frowned, but she backed off, putting her two kunai away god knows where and ripping the third out of the wall before retreating to the Hokage's side to fiddle with it, eyeing Naruto the whole time.

The Hokage said, "Naruto, you appear to have met a certain man in the forest, a man who bit you on the neck. Describe him."

Naruto frowned, starting to realize what this was all about. "You mean Orochimaru?"

Anko growled, and Naruto caught the scent of her hatred even without putting chakra into his marks. Now that was frightening.

The Hokage, meanwhile, was somehow managing to frown at both Anko and Naruto simultaneously, despite the fact that they were standing at opposite sides of him, one behind and to the left, the other in front of and to the right. It was an impressive feat, one made all the more incredible by the overwhelming disappointment in his voice as he responded to Naruto.

"Yes. Where did you learn his name?"

"Well, I did some history lessons in the library while I was waiting for the second test to end, and I found it out. I thought you wanted to talk about Kyuubi?"

The Hokage's frown deepened, and his attention shifted away from Anko. "That was the initial plan, yes. However, Anko noticed something, and pointed it out to me, that takes precedence, and is likely the cause of the greater influence the Kyuubi has on you."

"What greater influence?"

The Hokage's frown seemed to deepen even further, to the point that Naruto wouldn't have been surprised had it jumped off the old man's face and attacked him.

"Naruto, you nearly killed a fellow Leaf shinobi, and you did so in a manner that nearly killed you, and then used an excessive amount of Kyuubi chakra to heal yourself. _That_ greater influence."

Before Naruto could defend himself, Anko snapped, "That's not the issue! The issue is Orochimaru!"

The Hokage nodded, not even looking at Anko as he did, and said, "Yes, that is the issue. Naruto, where did you get the mark on your neck?"

Naruto frowned and glanced at his neck where the mark had been. Much to his surprise, it was indeed there.

'Hey Kyuubi, I thought you got rid of it?'

**"Sure, I got rid of the effects, but it remains. The actual marking is just a tattoo of sorts, to cover up the true seal work. I can't exactly get rid of a tattoo, that's not how it works."**

Naruto turned to look back at the Hokage and said, "That stupid bastard bit me on the neck and gave it to me."

Simultaneously, the Hokage seemed to relax a bit and Anko grew a bit more tense. Still, it was the Hokage who spoke, not his angry subordinate. "Why did he bite you?"

Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head, before chuckling and saying, "Well, he wasn't aiming for me. He was actually trying to bite Sasuke, but I kind of jumped in the way."

Anko blinked, and suddenly, instead of hatred, her body language was indicating intense confusion, a message that was only reinforced by her scratching the back of her head just like Naruto had moments ago. "Wait, you were the one that kept him away from the Sharingan?"

"Umm, yeah?"

Anko seemed to return to glaring at him, albeit with less force than before, and said, "Well you better believe I ain't kissing you."

Naruto frowned, totally lost at this point. "Umm, ok?"

The Hokage coughed, and they both turned to look at him. "Naruto, have you been feeling odd since he bit you? Have you used the seal at all, have you felt any unusual urges?"

Naruto started laughing at that, but stopped when he noticed that Anko looked like she was about to kill him again. "Umm, no. If that's all this is about, you really don't have to worry. Kyuubi took care of it. The little mark thingy is just a tattoo now, it doesn't actually do anything anymore"

"Why would Kyuubi help you like this?" asked an intensely glaring Hokage.

"Well, umm, the seal kind of helped Kyuubi out a little too."

The Hokage grew exponentially more intense, and thus frightening. "Naruto, is the Kyuubi free in any way?"

Naruto shook his head rapidly, and kept on doing it until the Hokage slowly growing killing intent had faded.

"Then what happened? How did it help the Kyuubi?"

"Well…"

And with that, Naruto explained everything the Kyuubi had told him, drawing more than one incredulous stare from both the Third and Anko as he did. He told them about what had happened inside of him while he was unconscious, he told them about how he had trained under the Kyuubi while in the tower. Basically, he told them everything that had happened in the past five days, down to his realizations about the people around him and the Kyuubi's revelations on the nature of the Jinchuriki, ending with him thanking the Hokage for literally saving him from the madness that had consumed his counterpart.

When he was done, the Hokage rose without a word and strode over to Naruto. He lifted the burnt and shredded remains of Naruto's shirt, and said, "Naruto, channel chakra if you don't mind."

Naruto nodded, and did so. The Hokage inspected the seal for what seemed like hours, but was likely more along the lines of a few minutes. When he was done, he looked up at Naruto and said, "You appear to be telling the truth. If anything, the bonds holding the Kyuubi within you appear to have grown stronger. And if the Kyuubi truly is cooperating with you as a result of this incident, perhaps it is all for the best. However, I cannot simply take your word for granted when it comes to Orochimaru, so I'm going to have to examine the seal he placed on you. Unfortunately, the process of unwrapping it so that I might actually inspect the seal lines themselves will be difficult, and likely painful for you. I will do it with or without your permission, but I would appreciate it nevertheless."

"It's ok old man, go on ahead."

The Hokage smiled, and even Anko seemed to lighten up a little bit. Soon, Naruto was sitting in the middle of a massive circle of seals, and the Hokage was standing over him, his palm hovering just above the seal on Naruto's neck.

"Are you ready? This will likely hurt."

"Yeah, go for it."

The Hokage slammed his hand down, and shouted, "Release!"

With that, Naruto blacked out, the pain overwhelming him in an instant.

It only lasted for a moment, however, and soon he had regained his senses, the pain having faded to a dull ache, as the Hokage shook him, repeatedly saying his name.

"It's alright old man, I'm ok."

The Hokage smiled down at him, and said, "Very well, sit up and I will inspect your seal."

Naruto did so, and the Hokage stood over him, eyeing the now expanded seal on his neck. Soon, Anko had approached as well, and was looking at it with just as much interest as the Third was.

After a few minutes of whispered conversation between the Third and Anko, they stepped back and Naruto watched as the seal lines receded, and then faded away.

"Well Naruto, it appears you are telling the truth. The seal has been completely destroyed, not including the disguise function. You are a very lucky boy, had you been anyone else, you might have ended up wrapped around Orochimaru's pinky."

"Yeah, I hate to think what would have happened if he had actually bitten Sasuke. He may be a bastard, but with Orochimaru helping him, he could have been a really strong, evil bastard."

The Hokage chuckled, and Anko roared with laughter. Naruto grinned at her and she grinned right back. He was obviously pleased that she wasn't trying to kill him anymore, and although he wasn't forgetting her psycho side, she seemed a lot nicer now.

The Hokage grinned, seeing the moment of bonding between the two of them, and said, "Anko, why don't you escort Naruto back into the village? I'd like to analyze some footage of the matches, and I'm too busy to take him through the forest."

"Sure thing old man!"

The Hokage froze, and then slowly turned around to find himself looking at a pair ninja with near identical grins on their faces.

He shook his head and walked away, his head in his hands, wondering what sort of monster he may have just created.


	7. Chapter 7

Once more, an Authoer's Note. A few people asked why Anko hated Naruto, so I guess I didn't make it clear enough. If something is even vaguely connected to Orochimaru, Anko will hate it with a fiery passion. It was sort of implied in canon that she didn't like Sasuke because of the cursed seal, I just took it to the next step. She didn't know that the curse mark no longer funcioned because she could still see it on him, and naturally assumed that the unremovable mark hadn't been removed. Add to that the automatic distrust everyone has of Naruto because of Kyuubi and you get a pissed off Anko. As for everyone else, not all of the other Jonin hate him. Kurenai holds a particular sort of anger at him and the others are just wary of him thanks to the combination of him having the mark of Orochimaru and Kyuubi. The other genin didn't notice the red chakra that healed Naruto because Kyuubi was trying to keep it quiet and their view was blocked by debris and the positioning of Naruto's body. Basically, Gaara noticed, because he's Gaara, and all the Jonin noticed, meaning his relationships with his fellow genin won't change that much as a result of the Kyuubi chakra after his match with Neji.

On with the story.

Chapter 7

They made it through the forest rather quickly, a series of assisted shunshin getting them out in mere minutes, far faster than Naruto's first journey through. As they traveled they talked to one another, and a bond rapidly developed.. They were both very similar in personality, sharing a very intense like for jokes, especially pranks, and both desperately craving attention and love while trying not to show it.

Then, they arrived at the village.

Instantly, Naruto noticed something was wrong. Normally people glared at them with varying degrees of hatred, or ignored him. However, this was an entirely new level. Now, the whispers were louder, less hidden, and the glares seemed to have intensified. He was mystified as to the reason, however, until someone spit at Anko, and then someone else spat at him, both of the people muttering about snake lovers.

She stoically ignored them, and Naruto followed her example. But now he knew, she was more like him than he was willing to believe, and his being with her was magnifying the hatred towards him, while the fact that his new impotent cursed seal was easily visible through his essentially nonexistent shirt obviously wasn't helping him any.

It was a sobering experience indeed, just to know that there were others in the village treated just as he had been treated, and for reasons just as foolish, just as stupid, just as _wrong_.

It only took a moment for him to realize that he wouldn't escape this new level of hatred just by leaving her side. Dozens of villagers had already seen his cursed mark, and they obviously knew what Anko's was. That meant that they would know what his was, and that meant, above all else, that their hatred of him would only grow. Suddenly, he was associated with the worst traitor in the history of the Leaf and the worst disaster in the history of Leaf. The redoubled hatred hit him like a sledgehammer, and he might have given up altogether if it wasn't for one thing.

Anko was still right next to him, bearing her burden with a smile and a laugh, trying to cheer him up when she realized what he was now facing along with her.

Naruto straightened his back and raised his head. She gave him the confidence to lift himself out of the depression that he might have fallen into otherwise. And, unknowingly, a woman on the edge of giving up on the village of Konoha was drawn back from the brink by the strength that she had loaned to the boy next to her.

Then, she shifted her jacket to cover her seal.

Naruto looked at her for a moment, and then looked at his own shoulder. His seal was already at least partially covered up by tattered chunks of his jacket, and it would actually be pretty simple to cover it up the rest of the way, shifting chunks of cloth around until it was hidden from the world.

Naruto reached up and took his jacket off completely, slinging it over his opposite shoulder as he did, revealing his cursed seal to the world with nothing to hide it.

Anko looked at him with surprise evident on her face, and he glared back up at her defiantly. Realization flashed through her eyes, and an entire conversation happened in an instant, their shared experience letting them say what needed to be said without ever saying a word.

She moved her jacket and revealed her seal once more.

The glares intensified, but neither of them noticed.

Eventually, they both arrived at Naruto's apartment building. Anko was right about to turn to go, her seal out in the open, proudly shown to the world, when Naruto grabbed the back of her coat, tugging it a little.

She stopped, and turned to look at him, and then followed him up to his apartment.

He unlocked the door and stepped in Anko right behind him.

Soon they were both drinking some homemade tea with homegrown herbs in complete silence. Naruto was the first to break it. "How long?"

She sipped her tea. "Since I was 10, for eleven years."

"Because of the seal?" Naruto asked as he poured himself a second cup.

"No," replied Anko as she fiddled with her hands. "Well, not exactly. I was his apprentice. I, well, I loved him. He never loved me back, but he was basically my father. He was the one that raised me, from age five to age ten. Before then I was just another orphan, but he saw the potential in me, and he raised me the way he felt I should be raised. He experimented on me, he forced me to fight for him, he forced me to _kill _for him, and I loved him for it. Then he put the cursed seal on me, and… and something happened. I'd like to think I left him but… But I honestly don't know. I looked up to him more than anything in the world, and… I think he abandoned me."

Naruto and Anko were both silent, and then Naruto spoke again, staring at the steam rising from his untouched second cup of tea. "How do you bear it? How do you take it all and stay loyal to Konoha?"

Anko smiled, and picked up her cup again, bringing it to her lips and draining the last of her first cup. "I don't."

Naruto picked his cup back up again, imitating Anko in bringing it to his lips, as she poured herself a second cup. "What do you mean?"

As Naruto took his first sip of his second cup, Anko stared at the steam rising from hers. "I hate this stupid village, and almost everyone in it. But the one person that I do love, the only person I've ever loved outside of Orochimaru, is the Hokage. I love him, and I'm loyal to him. If Orochimaru was my father, the Hokage was my grandfather, he raised me after Orochimaru left me, he was one of the only people that didn't give me that damned look. He's the only reason I'm still here, and not some rogue ninja out there, trying to destroy Konoha or go back to working for Orochimaru, that fucker."

Neither Naruto nor Anko flinched at the harsh language, but Anko did take her first sip of the second cup. "What about you, how do you stay loyal?"

"Same as you I guess," was Naruto's despondent reply, even as he finished off his second cup, placing it back down onto the table. "I love the Hokage, and a few others too. My teacher from the academy, Iruka, risked his life to protect me, and basically told the traitor Mizuki that he knew I was human. He was the first person to ever say so much in words. And the Ichiraku family, they fed me when no one else would, they accepted me too."

Anko smiled, and put down her now empty cup. "Sounds like you and I are the same brat. The only things keeping us here are the people precious to us. You have the Hokage a teacher and a ramen stand, I have a landlord the Hokage and a Dango stand."

Simultaneously, they rose to their feet. Naruto held out his hand to Anko, who was grinning, not the mad grin of a prankster or a mad woman, but the grin of someone who was happy. The same grin was adorning Naruto's face.

Anko held out her hand back, and they shook.

"Nice to meet you."

"And you too."

And with that, she was gone.

Naruto left soon after, heading towards a training ground to get started on his preparations.

**"Alright brat, I have some interesting news for you."**

_'What is it?'_

**"Over the course of the next two weeks, your chakra reserves will increase by a half, if not more."**

"What?"

**"Quiet! Don't talk out loud, people think you're crazy enough as it is."**

_'We're all alone, what does it matter?'_

**"Habits are important."**

_'Alright, sorry. What?'_

**"Better. Now, you need some history to understand this. When the damned Fourth Hokage sealed me in you, he tore away half my chakra, my Yin chakra, and locked it in the stomach of the Death God, for all eternity. However, something went wrong, I don't know what. That seal should be eternal, immortal, everlasting, but it isn't. There's a leak, a little hole built into the contract with the death god, and I don't know why, but it appears to have been intentional. For some reason, the Fourth left a loophole that is letting me regain my chakra now that it isn't being drained and I can think clearly enough to drag it back."**

'Ok, so you're getting half your chakra back, what does that have to do with me getting a chakra increase?'

**"All Jinchuriki are linked to their demons. If a demon is hurt, so is a Jinchuriki. Not in small things, of course, I don't get hurt every time you scrape your knee, but when you are close to death, so am I, and vice versa. Fortunately for you, I can't die, but unfortunately for me, you can, meaning that my death can only happen with yours death. For most Beasts it isn't a problem, because we will simply come back to the life, but this damned seal... That's beside the point though. The point is, we are linked. A portion of your chakra is natural, around a quarter of it. The rest is a rough fraction of my chakra, a hundredth, let's say, for arguments sake. It is likely more than that, but that doesn't really matter. Since my chakra is increasing, so is yours. It translates roughly to you getting half again as much chakra as now in around two weeks."**

_'If you don't know all the exact fractions, how can you tell how much it will increase by?'_

**"Instinct, really. We're connected in ways that even I don't understand, even more connected than most demons with their Jinchuriki thanks to the unique nature of our seal."**

_'Ok, so what does this chakra increase mean for both of us?'_

**"Well, for me it doesn't really mean much. I can't fight in here anyway, so it doesn't really matter. But for you, it means quite a bit more. For you, it means that you will regain chakra faster, and that you can use more techniques, better techniques, stronger techniques, with less of a drain."**

_'Wait, will I have to totally work on my chakra control again?'_

**"In a manner of speaking. It won't be all at once, like I said, I'm spreading it out over two weeks, so it will at least emulate natural growth. You will need to practice chakra control essentially nonstop over that period, but if you do so you won't have to relearn anything."**

_'Well that still sucks!'_

**"Yes, but there's nothing to be done about it. You will get stronger, your reserves increasing makes that inevitable. The only downside is that half of the training time given to you for the finals will be taken away from you, but such a massive chakra increase makes that all worth it."**

_'Do chakra levels really matter that much? I mean, I've never ran out before!'_

**"Yes they do, and yes you have. Remember the Wave mission? Tree climbing is what you were doing I believe, and you ran out of chakra. It all came back incredibly quickly, in part due to my influence, but nevertheless, you can run out. You already have Kage level chakra, after this, you will be beyond Kage level in this aspect, approaching the chakra levels of the weakest of the Tailed Beasts, Shukaku. Get the experience that goes with that chakra level, and you will be the most powerful ninja in the world, as was the Fourth's intention. If the seal had worked the way he intended, you would have been a god by age five. As it is, you'll get there eventually anyway."**

_'What do you mean?'_

**"Like I said, all you're lacking is experience, and maybe a few more jutsu, and you will be the most powerful ninja in the world. In this next month, we will work on a few things. The first is chakra control, I have some ideas for how to take it to higher levels even as we just work to keep it from falling. We want those as soon as possible, because even though you can't lose experience, chakra control becomes more difficult to learn the more chakra you have, and your chakra will be increasing rapidly in this next two weeks. After that, we should probably spend a week figuring out your bloodline, and the last week will be nothing but battles."**

_'Against who?'_

**"Naruto, you know, and have come close to mastering, a jutsu that grants you infinite sparring partners, and the memories that they have, meaning you learn twice as fast with only two clones."**

_'Wait, what?'_

**"…"**

"SHIT! HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THAT?"

**"THE FUCK? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YOU NEVER NOTICED THAT?"**

"OH MY GOD I'M SO STUPID!"

**"You are the dumbest person I have ever met."**

Naruto hung his head low, and, forcefully keeping himself from speaking out loud, thought, _'I know.'_

**"Ok, idiocy aside, it's time to start. Remember when your teacher fought Zabuza the first time? They were both standing on the water, you noticed right?"**

_'Yeah. I was kind of wondering how they did that, but I never got around to asking…'_

**"Well, we're going to find out. I don't actually know how to do it either, but it should be a relatively simple matter to find out. Let's start out with what you do for tree walking and we'll experiment from there. I'll start retrieving my stolen chakra now, so get to work."**

As Naruto walked towards the water, he had a grim look on his face. This month was going to suck, training to fight a genin he knew next to nothing about, beyond ridiculous speed and ridiculous eyebrows.

Naruto took his first tentative steps onto the water, or rather, he tried to. Instead he fell in with a resounding splash, and jumped out with a decidedly unmanly shriek.

_'Hey Kyuubi.'_

**"What is it brat?"**

_'Do you think all of the other Jinchuriki are like Gaara? Can they all be crazy?'_

**"I don't know. And now isn't the time to be wondering about things like that, this is the time to train, to get yourself to the point where you can win against your opponent, win the whole tournament."**

_'Yeah, I guess so.'_

Reluctantly Naruto headed back towards the water, this time trying to create invisible pads of chakra to stand on, figuring maybe water walking was like snow shoes. He fell in again, and once more emerged with a shriek and a splash.

**"Listen brat, if it really is that important to you, we can find out later. I'm sure this village has intelligence on the others of your kind, they would be mad not to. Ask the Third after the exams are over, I imagine he will be most willing to help you."**

_'Thanks Kyuubi, I think I'll do that.'_

**"No problem brat."**

Naruto tried again, this time

'Hey, I did it!'

**"You learn way too fast. Alright, the next step is…"**

A month later, Naruto stood in the center of the arena, listening to the cheers.

The proctor, a new one, not the sickly man from the preliminaries, stepped forward and said, "Alright kids, this is it. The whole world is watching, this is your chance to impress them all. Same rules as the preliminaries, anything goes, but no endangering the crowd, and if I call a match, it's over, no dispute. Anyone that keeps on attacking after I call the match is disqualified. Now, the first match, Sasuke Uchiha vs. Gaara of the Sand, has been delayed due to the tardiness of one of the participants. Because of this, we will be moving straight on to the second match, so could everyone except for Tenten and Shikamaru Nara please head to the competitors box."

Naruto, unfortunately, kept his full attention on Gaara, and never noticed the confused looks one of the other contestants was throwing his way.

It was fairly easy to notice that Gaara seemed pretty pissed off, which probably meant the half crazy Jinchuriki hadn't killed Sasuke yet. If Sasuke was dead at the hands of Gaara, Naruto might have been forced to take Gaara out just to avenge his teammate, and he still wasn't entirely sure he could do that, even with all the training he'd done.

By the time they all arrived at the competitor's box, the fight, if it could really be called that, was already underway. Shikamaru was randomly running around in the shadows of the arena wall, while Tenten was furiously throwing weapons at him, missing him by only the smallest of margins each time, actually ripping his clothes to shreds with each near miss.

It was clear to everyone that Shikamaru stood no chance, and apparently, everyone included him, because a few seconds after the other competitors made it to the box, he surrendered, leaving behind a thoroughly frustrated Tenten.

The proctor called out, "Winner, Tenten! Could Kiba Inuzuka and Choji Akimichi please enter the stadium?"

Kiba grinned, and just hopped off the edge of the competitor's box, despite the several story height. He hit the ground lightly, making it clear that his chakra control had improved over the break, and reached up to his hood, pulling Akamaru out with a grin on his face. Then, he strode to the center of the arena, clearly basking in the approval of the crowd.

Choji, on the other hand, walked down the stairs.

When Choji was at the bottom with his foe, he walked to the center, clearly nervous, and pulled out a bag of potato chips. Soon enough he was munching furiously, while Kiba stared at him with an incredulous look. Akamaru barked, and Kiba looked at his dog for a moment before looking at Choji and grinning. "Hey, you got a lot stronger over the break. This might actually be a good match!"

Choji smiled, revealing a mouth full of food, and said, "Yeah, I trained pretty hard with my dad. I don't know if I can win, but I know you'll know you've been in a fight!"

Kiba grinned, and said, "Hey, same to you! Let's get this party started!"

Choji nodded, and settled into his ready stance, Kiba and Akamaru matching him with their own stances.

The proctor looked between the two for a moment, and then nodded, as if affirming something to himself. "Begin!"


	8. Chapter 8

AN/ Soo yeah. I'm back. Didn't abandon it or anything. I just had a lot of stuff pop up all at once along with a nasty case of writer's block, and to be honest I was considering not posting it today either, because I really wanted the Choji Kiba fight to be much more intense than it ended up being. In the end I decided to keep it as it was. On a related note, the scene at the end of the chapter is not going to evolve into a yaoi relationship. If Naruto ends up in a relationship in this story, it will be with a girl, not a guy, and definitely not Shikamaru (or Choji). On another related note, no, Naruto did not meet or train with Jiraiya over the break. Basically the only thing that happened over that period of time with Naruto is that he trained with and strengthed his friendship with Kyuubi. Jiraiya did enter the village and do his usual Jiraiyaesque things, but he did not interact with any of the genin or their sensei beyond casual conversation, if he even did that. He will play a part later on, but for now, no. There's more AN at the end, and reading it might answer a few questions before they're asked, so please do so before you review.

* * *

Chapter 8

* * *

The whole arena was silent for just a moment, and then Choji shouted, "Multi Size Technique!"

With this, his whole body seemed to expand, until he appeared to be nothing more than an oversized roly poly. Once this was done, he shouted, "Pleasingly Plump! Human Bullet Tank!"

Suddenly, his head and limbs were sucked into his torso, turning him into nothing more than a ball, which soon started rotating at incredible speeds. When it touched the ground, it bounced once, and then shot towards Kiba at high speed.

Both Kiba and Akamaru easily dodged it, and soon, Kiba was shouting his own technique name, facing the back of the still rolling Choji. "Tsuga!"

Kiba jumped into the air and turned into a high speed whirlwind of spinning claws and fangs, as Akamaru ran along the ground behind him. Choji managed to reverse his direction by bouncing off several walls, leaving a number of craters, and was soon heading straight towards the spinning Kiba.

They collided at high speed, and winds shot out from the force of the impact, earth breaking beneath them. Kiba's whirlwind bounced away, while Choji emerged from his bullet tank mode and staggered around for a moment, obviously dizzy. Kiba, the momentum of his attack putting him on the opposite side of the arena, couldn't take advantage of Choji's state. Akamaru, on the other hand, did.

The little white puppy shot forward, and bit down hard on Choji's ankle. Choji shouted and instinctively jumped, but the little dog held on tight, refusing to let go. After a moment of hopping around, Choji raced through some seals and cried out, "Partial Multi Size Jutsu!"

With that, his left leg expanded at incredible speed, and so did his right arm. Akamaru was sent flying by the sudden expansion, and Choji moved to strike the dog with his now much larger arm, while it was still in midair and unable to defend itself.

Seconds before impact, Kiba arrived, moving at incredible speeds for a genin, and caught Akamaru, pulling his dog out of harm's way, and narrowly avoiding the hit meant for Akamaru, getting off with just a graze from the massive limb.

When he landed, he immediately dropped Akamaru, and shouted out, "Four Legs Jutsu!"

Kiba's chakra surged, and his whole body started to change. His canines, already sharp and pointed, grew even longer and more ferocious looking. His finger and toenails grew and sharpened, becoming more claw like, and the pupils of his eyes became nothing more than vertical slits. Soon, looking almost more dog than human, Kiba shot towards Choji, moving twice as fast as he had been going mere moments ago, with Akamaru racing right alongside him, still in dog form.

The instant they reached Choji, it became clear that they had the advantage. They were moving too fast for him to keep up, and although he was able to maintain a good defense using his multi size jutsu, he just couldn't land a blow, and was being rapidly worn down.

Kiba and Akamaru were soon circling around Choji at speeds too fast for him to keep up with. The still partially expanded Akimichi was obviously struggling to stay with his opponent's, and a long series of narrowly avoided blows, with the margin of error shrinking with each strike, made it clear that he was outmatched.

The stadium was already roaring, and when Choji suddenly shrank his oversized limbs back down to size and reentered his bullet tank mode, they only got louder.

Kiba and Akamaru both backed off, easily avoiding the cumbersome bullet tank, and then followed behind the ball of expanded human flesh, waiting for Choji to emerge so they could strike. They were obviously expecting it to happen when he collided with the arena wall, and ran forward in striking position the instant it happened, but instead they were forced to jump back as Choji just kept on going up the wall, still in ball mode.

Soon, Choji had reached the top of the wall, and Kiba and Akamaru had both jumped back to the center of the arena, looking nervous. Choji emerged from ball form and spun in midair, a grin on his face, and went through a few hand seals before suddenly expanding his left arm to several times the size of his body.

Kiba and Akamaru immediately separated, avoiding the oversized fist that crashed down where they had been standing moments ago. Choji's body followed his limb, and soon enough, in a familiar pattern, he once more found himself fending off his two foes, who were moving around him at high speeds, looking for an opening.

The battle continued as it was for a few moments, and then, as they passed by each other on one of their circuits of Choji, a small pill shot from Kiba's hand to Akamaru's mouth. On the next rotation, as Choji was starting to wonder why the small white dog was suddenly big and red, they both skidded to a halt and Akamaru jumped onto Kiba's back. Choji swung towards both of them, and his roar of exertion drowned out the sound of their combined jutsu.

The effects, however, were easily visible, as two Kiba's emerged from the dust cloud caused by Choji's fist impacting the ground. His shock gave one of the Kiba's an opportunity, and a quick Tsuga later, Choji was bleeding from multiple wounds across his back, and his arm had shrunk down to normal size once more. Both Kiba's shot forward, now moving even faster than before, but Choji once more raced through hand seals, and a quick shout of "Human Bullet Tank!" brought him up the wall once more to safety, while Kiba and Akamaru, indistinguishable from one another, remained behind on the ground.

Choji emerged from his jutsu at the top of the wall, just like last time, but this time he simply collapsed to his knees on the horizontal surface, panting heavily and bleeding from his back.

He looked down at his two opponent's and grinned. "Man, you guys are fast. How'd you do that?"

One of the Kiba's rose onto two legs once more, while the other transformed back into a once more white furred Akamaru. "It's practically all we've worked on. Our whole team is fast, although you wouldn't know it by looking at Shino. Sensei always said if the opponent can't catch you they can't hurt you, and it made sense to us, so that's kind of been our priority in training."

"Oh, that makes sense. And it's kind of true, you guys are way too fast for me. Proctor, I surrender."

The proctor nodded by way of acknowledgement and gestured for some medics to look at Choji's back, while Kiba and Akamaru merrily headed up to the competitor's box.

* * *

The proctor turned to look up towards the competitor's box and called out, "Could Hinata Hyuuga and Temari of the Sand please come down to the floor?"

Temari smirked and let loose a bit of killing intent as she jumped off of the balcony onto her fan, gliding down into the arena with a grace that awed the audience.

Then, in a move that awed her friends, Hinata jumped off the balcony just as Kiba had at the start of his match, and walked forward with a confidence that had never before been present.

* * *

Kiba entered the competitor's box just in time to hear the tail end of his fellow Konoha ninja's surprised muttering at Hinata's sudden about face, and frowned.

He still wasn't particularly happy about the methods used, but even he couldn't deny the results. He silently moved forward to stand next to Naruto, hoping as he did that Hinata would notice. Down on the field, the once shy Hyuuga activated her Byakugan and visibly flinched, before turning to look back at the competitor's box for a moment. She turned back to the field after a moments hesitation, and was once more all business.

* * *

Across from Hinata, Temari smirked. "My my, what a surprise. Last time I saw you you were all stutters and nerves. What happened? Had a change of heart little girl?"

Hinata didn't answer, simply glared at her opponent with her activated Byakugan.

"Well no matter, I'll crush you anyway. I'm ready proctor."

"And I am as well."

"Alright. Begin!"

Temari snapped open her fan, and as she swung it shouted, "Doesn't matter how fast you are, it won't let you dodge this!"

A massive gust of wind shot towards Hinata at incredible speed, and Temari smirked at the moment of panic that flitted across Hinata's face.

The smirk disappeared along with Hinata, as all her attack struck was a swirl of leaves. A similar swirl appeared behind Temari, and a few blows later, the blonde from the Sand village was on the ground unconscious, a victorious Hinata looking down on her.

"Winner, Hinata Hyuuga!"

The crowd went wild once more, and Hinata glanced up at the stands for a moment before smiling and turning to walk up the stairs.

* * *

In the stands, Hiashi Hyuuga frowned, unknowingly matching the look on his nephew's face.

When had Hinata gotten so strong? How had he missed this?

Next to her father, Hanabi Hyuuga just smiled, pleased to see her sister finally coming into her own, and just as pleased to see the shock on their father's face.

* * *

In another part of the stadium, Kurenai simply smiled in response to the questioning gazes of her fellow sensei, pride etched on her face. Both of her students had made it past the first round, and both of them had looked damn good doing it. For just a moment in time, all was well once more.

Then, her features hardened and she resumed her vigilance. It never hurt to be too careful.

* * *

"Could Naruto Uzumaki and Rock Lee please come down?"

Naruto and Lee looked at each other, and the crowd fell silent. Simultaneously, they both grinned, and held out their hands.

"Good luck Lee."

"May our flames of youth shine brighter than any before us!"

Their words echoed throughout the strangely quiet stadium. Lee, of course, didn't notice the absolute lack of cheers, nor the glares that were being thrown the way of his future opponent as they both jumped down into the stadium, but other people were significantly less oblivious.

* * *

"Hey Ino?"

"Yeah Sakura?"

"Why are they glaring at Naruto?"

"I don't know… He didn't pull some big prank we didn't hear about over the break did he?"

* * *

Gaara turned his head to view the crowd, and felt his hatred growing. They were looking at him again, those eyes, those same eyes! They always did this, wherever he went, it wasn't right!

The pain surged through him, and Gaara almost reacted in his usual bloody fashion, but then he hesitated.

The blonde boy jumped down into the arena, the annoyingly green one following him, and the glares went with them.

There was another?

* * *

Shikamaru shifted his nervous glance away from Gaara and towards Naruto, who was calmly walking towards the center, ignoring the looks he was getting. His eyes narrowed, and he sighed under his breath.

Then, Naruto did something even more confusing. Now at the center of the arena, facing Lee down in the noonday sun, he reached up and pulled off his customary orange jumper, throwing it to the side. The crowd's reaction was instantaneous, a chorus of boos hisses and jeers rained down on an apparently uncaring Naruto, along with the occasional piece of trash. A moment later, the boos and hisses seemed to redouble, only this time their target appeared to be the crazy proctor from the Forest of Death, who Shikamaru had noticed giving Naruto the evil eye after the preliminaries.

Shikamaru turned his head once more to Naruto, who now appeared to be casually talking to Lee, and frowned. Nothing stood out, beyond an odd lack of scars and what appeared to be a strange tattoo on his shoulder. Nothing that should have brought on this sort of reaction, at least.

Shikamaru silently slipped out of the competitor's box where he had been waiting. At this point, whatever happened in the coming fight wasn't important. Answers were.

* * *

The proctor raised his hand, and started to bring it down.

The audience took in a breath, all at once.

Several civilians rose to their feet and rushed towards Anko.

Lee and Naruto tensed their muscles.

Then, suddenly, a swirl of leaves appeared in the middle of the arena, a swirl which quickly faded away to present Kakashi and Sasuke, standing back to back. Sasuke was smirking, while Kakashi was reading his book. The silver haired Jonin lifted his head to look at the proctor, noting out of the corner of his eye Anko quickly and efficiently avoiding the civilians that had rushed her before she disappeared in her own swirl of leaves, even as the chorus of jeers died down.

"Are we late?"

The proctor frowned, and lowered his hand without saying the word begin at all. "Yes, but it doesn't matter. The Hokage made an exception, so you weren't disqualified."

Sasuke's smirk widened, and he looked at Lee, saying, "I'm looking forward to fighting you later on."

Lee frowned, and didn't respond.

Kakashi noticed some orange out of the corner of his eye, and turned to look at the source. What he saw, a shirtless and pissed of Naruto, was not what he had been expecting. "Eh? Naruto? What are you doing here, shouldn't you be up in the stands?"

Naruto blinked. "Umm, no? Why?"

Kakashi frowned beneath his mask. "Well, Neji beat you right?"

Naruto's look of confusion abruptly turned to one of shock, and then anger. "You didn't even bother to find out what happened in my match?"

Kakashi jerked back as if stung. "You won?"

Naruto snorted and jerked his head. "Get off the field _sensei_. My match is about to begin."

The proctor, who had been eying Kakashi with a mixture of disbelief and shame, turned to look at Naruto. "I'm afraid not. His match was supposed to be first, and since yours technically hasn't started, he's actually the one that's going at this point. You're going to have to wait your turn."

Naruto shrugged, and said, "Whatever, I can wait."

Sasuke smirked. "Still want me to verify your existence?"

Gaara looked up for a moment, and then frowned. "Yes, but a question first."

Sasuke was clearly surprised. Gaara just didn't seem like the inquisitive type. "Umm, ok. Go ahead."

"You are teammates with the boy in orange? Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Yeah, why?"

"They look at him with the same eyes. Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"They hate him, they fear him, they revile him. Tell me why."

"They don't hate him. I mean…"

"They hate him. I saw, they looked at him with those same eyes. Is he a monster like me? Does he seek to verify his existence?"

"No way. Naruto may be a little weird, but he's not nuts like you are."

"Very well. You shall both verify my existence. I am ready."

Sasuke noticed for the first time the restless state of the crowd, and Naruto's shirt discarded on the floor. "Yeah, I'm ready too."

"Begin!"

* * *

As Sasuke raced forward, displaying incredible speed for a genin, Naruto found himself in the middle of an old fashioned stare down, with none other than Shikamaru on the opposite end.

"Naruto."

"Shika. What's up?"

"You're so freaking troublesome Naruto. Why'd you take off your shirt?"

A frown flitted across Naruto's face. "I just found out my sensei assumed that I would lose and end up in the hospital after the preliminaries, to the point that he didn't even bother checking afterwards. I'm not in the mood for twenty questions."

"I don't care. Naruto, weird stuff seems to always happen around you, and I can't figure it out. First one thing seems like the only answer, and then something new comes up that makes that one thing impossible. I thought I had you figured out, but you taking off your stupid shirt just proved me wrong. Why did you do it?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Alright, fine. Until a few minutes ago, I thought you were the container of the Kyuubi. Was I wrong?"

Naruto subtly stiffened, but not subtly enough.

"No, guess not. Alright, so that brings us back to the same old question. Why did you take off your shirt? If they hate you because you're a container, how is that connected to Anko Mitarashi, the crazy proctor?"

Naruto remained silent.

"I've never seen that mark on your shoulder before either."

"Look, what are you accusing me of?"

"Nothing, I'm not accusing. I don't care that you're a container, you're still Naruto, but I hate mysteries, and I've given up on trying to be subtle about figuring you out. For once, it's actually easier to just freaking ask, so that's what I'm doing."

"Fine. You know Orochimaru?"

"Yeah."

"In the Forest of Death, he marked me with a Cursed Seal. Kyuubi beat it off, but the symbol stayed. Because my shirt was so tattered after I blew myself up against Neji, the whole village saw it, and suddenly they had two reasons to hate me twice as much. Now I'm further away from being Hokage than ever, I just found out my sensei has absolutely no faith in me, and I'm pretty sure I just heard a crazy ass fellow container mark me and my teammate for death. To top it all off, now I'm standing in a dark hall alone with a kid I haven't talked to since the academy who seems determined to pry each and every secret that I've got out of my cold dead hands. Plus, I'm pretty sure a month ago, a pedophile bit me in the neck."

"Crappy month?"

"God yes."

"Well, you can still count Choji and me as your friends."

"Thanks Shikamaru."

A small explosion and a surge of cheering caught their attention, and Naruto sighed. "Ready to go watch the fight?"

"Sure."

They walked off up their stairs together as another explosion and surge of cheering rattled the arena.

* * *

AN/ Ok, answer time. First of all, Hinata's mysterious change and sudden power boost. I will not tell you why or how she has changed, because that would be a spoiler. I imagine I'm going to receive some angry reviews telling me that Hinata could never beat Temari, and to be honest, that's true. Canon Hinata could never beat Temari, but my Hinata, with confidence and the Shunshin, can. Moving on, what did everyone else do over break? Again, that would be a spoiler, so I'm not telling. This probably confused you more than it enlightened you, but to be honest that's kind of the point. We're coming up on a completely AU arc that I've been building up to for some time, and answers will arrive with that arc. It's still a couple of story lines away though, so be prepared to wait. See you next time o faithful readers, and hopefully next time won't be quite so long a wait as this time.


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